New Drugs Approved In February

(RTTNews) - Yet another month has gone by, during which, headlines were dominated by flu blues. In the wake of influenza season, which may continue to affect Americans into April, the FDA is stepping up efforts to help improve the effectiveness of influenza vaccines. This year's influenza vaccines are said to have produced reduced effectiveness against one strain of influenza A, called H3N2.

On the regulatory front, here's bit of what happened in February. Three *novel drugs were approved last month.  *Novel drugs are new molecular entities (NMEs) having chemical structures that have never been approved before.

Gilead Sciences' Biktarvy for the treatment of HIV-1 infection, Vertex Pharmaceuticals' Symdeko for treating the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, Janssen Pharmaceuticals' Erleada for prostate cancer, are the new molecular entities that were approved last month.

Now, let's have a look at the full list of drugs, including novel drugs, to have gained the regulatory nod in the U.S. in February.