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Bristol Myers Squibb Receives Positive CHMP Opinion for Inrebic for Adult Patients with Newly Diagnosed and Previously Treated Myelofibrosis

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Managing Quality and Regulatory Risks in Pharmaceutical Technology Transfer

Technology transfer moves more than manufacturing instructions. It moves process knowledge, supplier dependencies, labeling requirements, packaging specifications, and the evidence needed to demonstrate control. For medical device manufacturers, including those supporting drug-device combination products, these interfaces can become recurring sources of compliance gaps during site transitions, acquisitions, and remediation. The central problem is often not a missing procedure. It is a quality system that allows connected activities to change independently. A label revision may be approved while packaging artwork, supplier instructions, or production-system data still reflect an obsolete version. Staying inspection-ready requires manufacturers to manage these dependencies as one controlled system. 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Transitions expose unresolved weaknesses Acquisitions and site transfers can introduce conflicting procedures, incomplete knowledge transfer, or different assumptions about validated processes. Regulatory changes add further demands. When these events coincide with CAPA or change-control backlogs, teams may prioritize administrative closure over risk reduction. Without a coordinated impact assessment, local fixes can create new gaps downstream. Establish the Regulatory Baseline Inspection readiness starts with knowing which requirements apply to the product, activity, and market. Pharmaceutical, device, and combination-product obligations are not interchangeable; transfer planning should identify the applicable requirements rather than assume one quality framework covers every operation. According to FDA’s Quality Management System Regulation overview and FAQs, the QMSR became effective on February 2, 2026, incorporates ISO 13485:2016 by reference, and introduced the updated device inspection process under Compliance Program 7382.850. ISO 13485 certification does not exempt a manufacturer from FDA inspection or guarantee compliance with FDA requirements. For devices marketed in the European Union, Regulation (EU) 2017/745, Annex I, Section 23, provides the primary requirements for information supplied with devices, including labels and instructions for use. Teams should assess the applicable provisions alongside relevant language, product-specific, and market requirements. A labeling review should therefore evaluate required content and consistency with the device’s intended purpose and supporting documentation—not merely artwork accuracy. How to Identify the Real Gaps Begin with a cross-functional assessment that follows actual product and information flows. Select representative transfers, label changes, supplier changes, and CAPAs, then trace each from initiation through implementation and effectiveness review. Map dependencies: Identify affected specifications, suppliers, packaging components, systems, validation activities, and training. Compare records with practice: Check whether approved procedures match what operators and reviewers actually do. Test traceability: Follow a requirement through technical documentation, labeling, production instructions, and release evidence. Examine recurrence: Look for repeated deviations, reopened actions, overdue changes, and findings shared across sites. Assess capacity: Determine whether qualified owners have enough time and authority to complete corrective work. Prioritize gaps by potential patient or user harm, regulatory impact, likelihood of recurrence, and detectability. Document the rationale; an old overdue item is not automatically more important than a newly identified high-risk weakness. Align Quality, Labeling, Packaging, and Change Control Create a coordinated remediation plan with one accountable owner for each action, named contributors, acceptance criteria, and required evidence. Separate immediate containment from systemic correction. Containment might prevent obsolete labels from being issued; correction might redesign approval and implementation controls so obsolete versions cannot return. Use change control as the integration point. Before approval, evaluate effects on regulatory submissions or notifications, technical documentation, supplier controls, packaging performance, validation, electronic master data, inventory, and training. Record both identified impacts and justified decisions that particular activities are unaffected. During technology transfer, define readiness gates before production or release responsibilities move. These should address the transfer of process knowledge, acceptance criteria, receiving-site capability, required qualification or validation, approved documents, and personnel competence. The appropriate evidence depends on the product and process; a generic checklist cannot replace a documented assessment. Finally, verify implementation where the work happens. Confirm that current instructions are available, suppliers received approved requirements, systems contain correct versions, and affected personnel can perform their tasks. A signed approval is not evidence that every downstream change took effect. Mistakes That Undermine Inspection Readiness Closing CAPAs on task completion alone: Effectiveness checks should test whether the underlying failure has been controlled. Updating labels in isolation: Assess packaging, supplier, system, documentation, and inventory consequences. Counting closures instead of evidence: Dashboards need defensible records behind their status indicators. ...

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Bristol Myers Squibb announced the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended approval of Inrebic® (fedratinib) for the treatment of disease-related splenomegaly (enlarged spleen) or symptoms in adult patients with primary myelofibrosis, post-polycythaemia vera myelofibrosis or post-essential thrombocythaemia myelofibrosis, who are Janus Associated Kinase(JAK) inhibitor naïve or have been treated with ruxolitinib. The CHMP recommendation will now be reviewed by the European Commission (EC), which has the authority to approve medicines for the European Union (EU). If approved, Inrebic will be the first, once-daily oral therapy to significantly reduce spleen volume and symptom burden for patients with myelofibrosis where treatment with ruxolitinib has failed or who are JAK inhibitor naïve.

The CHMP adopted a positive opinion based on results from the JAKARTA and JAKARTA2 studies. The pivotal JAKARTA study evaluated the efficacy of once-daily oral doses of Inrebic compared with placebo in 289 patients with intermediate-2 or high-risk primary or secondary myelofibrosis with splenomegaly.1 The JAKARTA2 study evaluated the efficacy of once-daily oral doses of Inrebic in 97 patients with intermediate or high-risk primary or secondary myelofibrosis with splenomegaly previously treated with ruxolitinib.2

“For nearly a decade, patients with myelofibrosis who have progressed on ruxolitinib have had no treatment options for this rare bone marrow disorder, characterized by debilitating symptoms and an enlarged spleen,” said Diane McDowell, M.D., vice president, Hematology Global Medical Affairs, Bristol Myers Squibb. “The positive CHMP opinion for Inrebic reinforces our commitment to improving on standards of care for patients living with hard-to-treat blood diseases and we look forward to the European Commission’s decision.”

The EC is expected to deliver its final decision within 67 days of receipt of the CHMP opinion. The decision will be applicable to all EU member states and Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

Inrebic is approved in the United States for the treatment of adult patients with intermediate-2 or high-risk primary or secondary (post-polycythemia vera or post-essential thrombocythemia) myelofibrosis.1 In Canada, Inrebic is approved for the treatment of splenomegaly and/or disease related symptoms in adult patients with intermediate-2 or high-risk primary myelofibrosis, post-polycythemia vera myelofibrosis or post-essential thrombocythemia myelofibrosis, including patients who have been previously exposed to ruxolitinib.3

In the clinical development program of Inrebic, which included 608 patients, serious and fatal cases of encephalopathy, including Wernicke’s, occurred in Inrebic-treated patients. Serious cases were reported in 1.3% (8/608) of patients treated with Inrebic in clinical trials and 0.16% (1/608) of cases were fatal.

About Myelofibrosis

Myelofibrosis is a serious and rare bone marrow disorder that disrupts the body’s normal production of blood cells. Bone marrow is gradually replaced with fibrous scar tissue, which limits the ability of the bone marrow to make blood cells. The disorder can lead to anemia, weakness, fatigue and enlargement of the spleen and liver, among other symptoms.4 Myelofibrosis is classified as a myeloproliferative neoplasm, a group of rare blood cancers that are derived from blood-forming stem cells.5 In the EU, approximately 1 of every 100,000 people will be diagnosed with myelofibrosis each year.6 Both men and women are affected, and while the disease can affect people of all ages, the median age at diagnosis ranges from 60 to 67 years.7,8

About Inrebic

Inrebic ® (fedratinib) is an oral kinase inhibitor with activity against wild type and mutationally activated Janus Associated Kinase 2 (JAK2) and FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3). Inrebic is a JAK2-selective inhibitor with higher potency for JAK2 over family members JAK1, JAK3 and TYK2. Abnormal activation of JAK2 is associated with myeloproliferative neoplasms, including myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera. In cell models expressing mutationally active JAK2 or FLT3, Inrebic reduced phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT3/5) proteins, inhibited cell proliferation, and induced apoptotic cell death. In mouse models of JAK2V617F-driven myeloproliferative disease, Inrebic blocked phosphorylation of STAT3/5, increased survival and improved disease-associated symptoms, including reduction of white blood cells, hematocrit, splenomegaly and fibrosis.

About Bristol Myers Squibb

Bristol Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases.

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Technology transfer moves more than manufacturing instructions. It moves process knowledge, supplier dependencies, labeling requirements, packaging specifications, and the evidence needed to demonstrate control. For medical device manufacturers, including those supporting drug-device combination products, these interfaces can become recurring sources of compliance gaps during site transitions, acquisitions, and remediation. The central problem is often not a missing procedure. It is a quality system that allows connected activities to change independently. A label revision may be approved while packaging artwork, supplier instructions, or production-system data still reflect an obsolete version. Staying inspection-ready requires manufacturers to manage these dependencies as one controlled system. 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