Sanofi's hopes for rare blood disease candidate sutimlimab on hold after FDA blasts 3rd-party manufacturer

When a new drug goes in front of the FDA for consideration, a lot of moving pieces must be in place for a successful review—manufacturing standards included. That didn't happen for Sanofi, which is pressing pause on a rare disease candidate after the FDA found issues at a contract manufacturer's plant.

The FDA blasted a third-party manufacturer of Sanofi's rare blood disease drug sutimlimab in a complete response letter, citing "certain deficiencies" at the contractor's site, the French drugmaker said Friday.

A Sanofi spokeswoman declined to specify who the manufacturer cited in the FDA's letter was or what the nature of the deficiencies were.

With its application on hold, Sanofi said it would work with its manufacturer and the FDA to resolve the issues in a "timely manner." The drugmaker didn't say how quickly it expected to turn around a new application.

The untimely feedback from the FDA dims C1 inhibitor sutimlimab's chances in cold agglutinin disease (CAD), a rare blood disease characterized by anemia, fatigue and other symptoms.