iwewlkws As promised last year, this Monday FDA released the final rule formally eliminating the 30-year-old “enforcement discretion” for Lab Developed Tests (LDTs) by requiring all such tests to be formally regulated. The final rule contains critical timelines and clarifications and is accompanied by two new guidance documents. New LDTs will cease to exist immediately and … Read more
Recently, accelerated approval of drugs and other expedited approval programs have been questioned widely since they rely on limited pre-market evidence for approval and extended post-market commitments. It has been speculated that companies may not meet their post-market commitments in a timely fashion, if at all, and that the FDA may not enforce the post-market … Read more
The FDA made a public announcement this week asking consumers to not use anti-chocking devices, saying that they are not effective and that manual anti-choking procedures are much better. Anti-choking devices are popular, particularly with parents trying to be prepared for accidental choking of their children. However, the lack of FDA enforcement highlights the limits … Read more
Eli Lily has been trying to rein in compounding pharmacies from selling compounded versions of its super blockbuster anti-obesity drugs for more than a year now, unsuccessfully, and in the process establishing precedence for the rights of such unauthorized legal versions of approved drugs that would have an impact on other similar scenarios. Compounding pharmacies … Read more
Since the publication of the Critical Path Initiative over two decades ago which included smart trial designs, the FDA has introduced several innovative clinical trial designs to improve clinical trial conduct and expedite new drug developments. However, the adoption of those non-conventional designs has not yet become mainstream. Most clinical trials still follow traditional designs … Read more
New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) registration has been required for almost 30 years but the regulations for such registration are one of the hardest to enforce and frequently less understood. There are many perceptions, right or wrong, about the definition of an NDI, the contents of the application for registration, the FDA review process, and other … Read more
A genetic diagnostic test approved by the FDA has come under surprisingly strong criticism by researchers, physicians, and some public interest groups, so much so that they have petitioned the FDA to revoke its approval and that CMS should not cover it. But would the FDA rescind a test it approved based on non-FDA research … Read more
The last year and half have been fueled by the hype about the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms in replacing work done traditionally by humans, driven primarily by generative large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT. One area of lively debate is the ability of ChatGPT in analyzing health information to generate therapeutic decisions … Read more
Almost all discussions about food-borne illnesses focus on pathogens such as bacteria that may contaminate our food, but what about harmful chemicals? Chemical poisoning may take longer to show symptoms and may cause long-term health issues. However, the FDA has an active and robust program to prevent chemical poisoning from food consumed in the US. … Read more
A question as old as the modern drug industry is about the true benefit provided by new treatments. This is an important argument to justify the high cost of newly approved drugs compared to those available in the prior days and years. A study by researchers in Europe raises some interesting questions about the added … Read more
