Today, a brief rundown of news involving PhRMA and Pierre Fabre Laboratories, as well as updates from Mirum Pharmaceuticals and AbbVie that you may have missed.
The pharmaceutical industry’s top lobbying group has named a new leader. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, said Tuesday that former congressman Eric Cantor will become its next president and CEO effective Nov. 9. Cantor represented Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2000 to 2014 and was the House majority leader during the final three years of that stint. Cantor also played an important role in the development of the 21st Century Cures Act and campaigned for legislation that established Medicare Part D, the federal program that pays for certain prescription drugs, PhRMA noted. He’ll succeed Steve Ubl, who has led PhRMA since 2015 and will continue on as a strategic adviser through Jan. 15.
Pierre Fabre Laboratories has resubmitted an approval request for a cell therapy U.S. regulators have rejected twice. Called Ebvallo, the treatment was originally developed by partner Atara Biotherapeutics and has been available in Europe since late 2022 as a treatment for a lethal complication of Epstein-Barr virus infections. The Food and Drug Administration, though, turned Ebvallo back in 2025 due to manufacturing issues. It spurned Ebvallo again in January, sparking claims by Atara that the agency had backpedaled on a previous agreement. Pierre Fabre has since come to terms with the FDA on a new application built around updated data from a single-arm trial as well as information from expanded access programs and commercial use in Europe.
An experimental drug Mirum Pharmaceuticals acquired in a buyout last year has succeeded in the first of two Phase 3 trials against chronic hepatitis D infections. According to Mirum, a once-weekly low dose and once-monthly high dose of its prospect brelovitug significantly suppressed levels of the hepatitis D virus in 56% and 45% of treatment recipients, respectively, after 24 weeks. None of those in a third study arm, who had a “delayed” start to treatment, hit that mark. Mirum obtained brelovitug in a $620 million buyout of startup Bluejay Therapeutics. It could seek a regulatory clearance if a second late-stage trial, which should report results later this year, is also positive.
Mirum separately announced on Friday that the FDA approved one of its drugs for the ultra-rare bone disease Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, or FOP. Incyte had already completed pivotal testing of the therapy, zilurgisertib, when it licensed the drug to Mirum in May for $16 million up front. Friday’s clearance makes the drug available to adults and children at least 12 years of age with FOP. It’ll be sold as Atebrioz and compete for market share with medicines from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Ipsen.
The FDA on Monday also approved a new AbbVie medication for Parkinson’s disease. Called Juvmo — and formerly tavapadon — AbbVie acquired the treatment in a nearly $9 billion buyout of Cerevel Therapeutics in 2023. It succeeded in testing months after the purchase was announced, enabling AbbVie to recoup some value on a deal the company has partially written off due to other study failures. Juvmo is a first-of-its-kind medicine that precisely targets two different dopamine receptors. In testing, it helped control symptoms as well as reduce the amount of time when the effects of other medications stop working.
