Rise and shine, everyone, another busy day is headed your way. And it is getting off to a chilly start here on the Pharmalot campus, where clear blue skies and frigid temperatures are greeting us today. This requires reheating the trusty coffee kettle for another cup of stimulation. Our choice today is peppermint mocha, a pantry favorite. Please feel free to join us. Remember, no prescription is required and — lucky for you — no rebates are involved. And now, here are your tidbits. Hope you have a productive and meaningful day, and, as always, please do keep in touch. We appreciate juicy tips, suggestions, and even criticism. …
Health Canada is planning to speed up reviews of some medications by piggybacking on the decisions of foreign regulators, including possibly the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has been in turmoil since President Trump returned to the White House a year ago, The Globe and Mail tells us. Ottawa has not yet revealed which foreign drug authorities or which classes of drugs will be subject to the change, outlined in a draft ministerial order designed to quicken the pace of pharmaceutical approvals in Canada. However, neither the office of Health Minister Marjorie Michel nor Health Canada ruled out including the FDA on the forthcoming list. The draft ministerial order, which was published just before the holidays, is part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s commitment to cut red tape in the federal government.
Valneva will pull its chikungunya vaccine, called Ixchiq, from the U.S. market after the FDA announced it would take further action to investigate the live-attenuated shot, MedPage Today writes. The FDA recently put the investigational new drug application for a post-marketing study on clinical hold while the agency investigated a newly reported serious adverse event in a vaccine recipient abroad. The company said the event “involved a younger adult who received three concomitant vaccines, including Ixchiq.” The agency had already suspended the biologics license for the vaccine in August 2025, citing “serious” safety concerns. At the time, FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research pointed to more than 20 cases of serious chikungunya-like illnesses among people who received the live-attenuated vaccine, and one death from encephalitis attributable to the vaccine.
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