iwewlkws In December of 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, the US Congress allocated $1.15 billion to NIH to study and find treatments for long-term side effects of Covid, the long Covid. Two and half years later, NIH recently informed the Congress that it has already spent almost a billion dollars of the allocated … Read more
Developing new drugs is an expensive and time-consuming venture. One would expect developers to conduct extensive due diligence before investing resources into developing a new drug. What if their due diligence is influenced by non-scientific factors such as herd instinct and fear of missing an opportunity? Can multiple independent developers make a common mistake? What … Read more
In the realm of clinical research ethics, the concept of dual-role consent has long been a subject of debate. Dual-role consent occurs when physician-investigators seek consent for research participation from patients whom they already treat. While it has raised concerns, this practice is quite common in clinical research, e.g., clinical oncology research, where studies are … Read more
This week, FDA announced the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program (VQIP) primarily designed for foreign food importers to expedite entry of their food products for human and animal consumption in the US. This program will be additional to the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) that is required for the US-based importers of these products. The VQIP … Read more
The ICH E6 guidance document and FDA’s clinical trial guidance contain requirements for good clinical trials, but they do not address practical issues related to the conduct of clinical trials particularly in resource-limited and multi-national settings. All locations where trials are being conducted or planned to be conducted are not the same in terms of … Read more
Some manufacturing changes could affect the biological properties of human cellular and tissue-based products (HCTPs) to an extent that may require a new IND or a BLA supplement. Unlike drug products, HCTPs are manufactured with limited information on several key aspects of process and product characterization lending them to higher risk when changes are made. … Read more
Since its inception about 5 years ago, FDA’s Breakthrough Device Program has been involved in 67 new device approvals out of about 700 devices designated as breakthrough devices. A review of the devices designated as breakthrough and approved via this pathway indicates a few interesting trends for this program such the indications for which FDA’s … Read more
Priority review vouchers (PRVs) are a less discussed incentive from the US government to developers of new drugs for certain diseases. These are hard to get but provide an immediate financial gain to the company securing it. So, can developers design programs aimed specifically at benefiting from them? In the last 14 years, there have … Read more
In the last 5 years, the FDA has cleared about 120 software-enabled medical devices via the 510k pathway for various indications. A recent study of these discrepancies indicates that manufacturers of such devices might be exploiting a loophole in the current device regulation. A review of the 510k summaries and the subsequent marketing information of … Read more
Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) advertising must be truthful and non-misleading while presenting the risk and benefits of a given product in a balanced easily understandable format. Although there is extensive marketing research on the best ways to communicate drug related information to consumers, a new FDA guidance provides a review of the available information with recommendations for … Read more
