The Food and Drug Administration’s attempt to withdraw Tavneos (avacopan), now sold by Amgen, was the subject of feature reporting by Ars Technica, republishing Undark, on October 31. The agency proposed withdrawal in April 2026, arguing the pivotal trial data were manipulated and citing reports of serious, sometimes fatal, liver injury; the New England Journal of Medicine has since retracted the pivotal trial paper and the drug has been removed from the European and United Kingdom markets. Amgen submitted a 104 page dossier in July arguing the totality of the evidence supports continued availability. No new regulatory decision was reported this weekend; the item is recorded because it is the live test of how hard it is for the FDA to reverse an approval.
STAT convened policymakers, lobbyists and experts on October 31 on the health policy stakes of the United States midterms. The item is a discussion piece rather than a decision, and it is noted here because the election outcome will shape the same pricing and coverage questions this beat tracks. No figure from it is relied on.
Inovio shares were reported up about 257 percent in extended trading after the October 30 accelerated approval of Voceryq, which this beat covered as a full story on October 30. The move is follow-through on that decision, not a new development. Inovio holds an investor call on Monday, November 2, 2026, and has said it expects the product to be available to order in about 60 days, with a full commercial launch in the first quarter of 2027.
STAT’s Pharmalittle roundup of October 30 carried a headline reference to Sun Pharma facility problems alongside the AstraZeneca cost cutting already covered in this beat. No second independent source confirming the facility detail was found in this run, so the item is headline level only, is not relied on for any figure, and is carried at evidence grade C for this item. It sits in tension with the same company’s Ilumya approval reported as a full story today, and any confirmed manufacturing finding would matter more than the approval headline.
Endpoints News interviewed Anthropic’s Nathan Frey on October 30 about biopharma partnerships, dealmaking and pipeline plans. The conversation is context for the Anthropic Mithril acquisition covered in this beat on October 28, not a new transaction, and no new deal terms were reported.