Tezepelumab-ekko (Tezspire – AstraZeneca/Amgen), a subcutaneously administered thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) blocker, has been approved by the FDA for add-on maintenance treatment of severe asthma in patients ≥12 years old. It is the first TSLP blocker to become available in the US and the first biologic drug to be approved for treatment of severe asthma without phenotypic or biomarker limitations.

Cetuximab (Erbitux - ImClone Systems/Bristol-Myers Squibb), an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor, and bevacizumab (Avastin - Genentech), the first vascular endothelial growth factor angiogenesis inhibitor, have recently been approved by the FDA for treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Cetuximab is approved for treatment of patients with EGFR-expressing tumors, either in combination regimens with irinotecan (Camptosar)when the cancer has progressed on irinotecan-based therapy, or as monotherapy for those who cannot tolerate irinotecan. Bevacizumab is approved...

Paclitaxel (Taxol - Bristol-Myers Squibb) is now available in the USA for treatment of metastatic ovarian cancer refractory to other drugs. The new drug is a natural product extracted in small amounts from the inner bark of the Western yew tree found mainly in the Pacific northwest (Taxus brevifolia). Efforts to synthesize the drug have been unsuccessful to date, but a semi-synthetic product (taxotere) prepared from the needles of European yews has shown some promise (R Pazdur et al, J Natl Cancer Inst, 89:1781, 1992), and a fungus (Taxomyces andreanae) growing on the Pacific yew was...

The severity and rapid spread of COVID-19 (caused by SARS-CoV-2) have raised questions about the use of some drugs in patients with the disease and whether currently available drugs could be effective in treating it. Definitive answers are lacking, but some recommendations can be made. For additional information on specific drugs, see our table Some Drugs Being Considered for Treatment of COVID-19.

View the Table: Treatments Considered for COVID-19

The FDA has approved aclidinium bromide (Tudorza Pressair – Forest), an orally-inhaled long-acting anticholinergic, for long-term maintenance treatment of bronchospasm associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The FDA has approved pomalidomide (Pomalyst – Celgene), an oral thalidomide analog, for treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least 2 prior therapies including lenalidomide (Revlimid) and bortezomib (Velcade) and whose disease had progressed on or within 60 days of completion of the last therapy.

An inhaled, dry-powder formulation of rapid-acting human insulin (Exubera - Pfizer) has been approved by the FDA for treatment of adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

The FDA has approved Arnuity Ellipta (GSK), a single-agent inhaler containing the corticosteroid fluticasone furoate, for once-daily maintenance treatment of asthma in patients ≥12 years old. Fluticasone furoate is also available in combination with the long-acting beta₂-agonist vilanterol as Breo Ellipta for treatment of asthma and COPD.

A Medical Letter reader has asked us to review the safety of the fluoroquinolone antibiotic levofloxacin (Levaquin – Ortho-McNeil-Janssen), which has just been approved for generic use by the FDA and has been at the center of some recent lawsuits regarding the adequacy of its safety warnings.