The FDA has approved 13 novel medicines in 2019, compared to 2018 when there were 20 new molecular entity approvals by July 1, according to the Eye on FDA blog.
While the number of NME approvals are not as high as they were at this time last year, "it is actually not far behind 2015, which was a record-setter by the end of the year, indicating that a midyear assessment is not always a very crystal ball regarding the rest of the year," Eye on the FDA reported.
Some indicators that suggest 2019 may not be a record-setting year, according to the blog. There are fewer advisory panel meetings to decide on new drug approvals in 2019 and fewer deadlines for agency approvals this year compared to last year.
Read the full blog post here.