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During the pandemic, completely or partially decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) became the only way clinical trials could be conducted reasonably, where possible. Although the dire necessity for DCTs is no longer there, their utility in increasing trial accessibility to a wider patient pool cannot be denied. FDA described eight considerations for DCTs which could determine … Read more

he Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at the FDA has been accepting applications for new products electronically for a few years. But since CVM applications and documents follow a very different format compared to those for the human drugs and biologics, it has been confusing for companies to understand the acceptable electronic submission process. A … Read more

More than half of the cancer drugs are approved by the FDA based on non-randomized single-arm trials using surrogate endpoints. Also, many drugs for ultra-rare diseases with few or no options are approved based on open-label studies since including a placebo or a standard of care control arm is not feasible or ethical in those … Read more

Medical device manufacturers need to re-access if their device’s FDA approval or clearance is still valid upon making modifications to the device. Not doing a proper assessment could lead to FDA deeming the device illegally marketed. This hard lesson was learnt by Abbott’s Canadian unit selling a diagnostic test for quantitative measurement of cardiac troponin … Read more

The media frenzy driven by social media posts describing the off-label use of Ozempic and similar drugs for weight loss has seemingly caught the FDA off-guard. This is a classic case of where off-label promotion of a product by sources independent of the manufacturers has yielded excessive riches for the manufacturers. The hype around weight … Read more

The bankruptcy of Pear Therapeutics serves as a cautionary tale for the digital medicine industry. The Boston-based startup had raised over $200 million in funding, developed digital therapeutics for the treatment of substance use disorder and other mental health conditions, and got them through FDA approval. However, it was unable to yield returns it projected … Read more

The final FDA guidance on risk-based monitoring (RBM) for clinical trials released this week expands on the advice given in the draft guidance from almost 10 years ago with a goal to reduce overall in-person site monitoring visits and increase reliance on centralized remote monitoring. Overall, this is not new information but confirmation of prevailing … Read more

About 10% of new drugs approved by the FDA between 2018-2021 failed their primary endpoints in one of more pivotal clinical trial but were still approved based on success in at least 1 other pivotal study, positive findings from secondary or exploratory end points in the pivotal study, or favorable post hoc analysis. Before we … Read more

A clinical trial may terminate early for a number of reasons unrelated to the safety of the investigational product. A survey of informed consent documents found that most of them do not acknowledge the possibility of early termination of the trial and the potential direct or indirect consequences for the participants for the same. Should … Read more

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been an acute shortage of monkeys for non-clinical research. Recently, due to increase in smuggling of long-tailed macaques, federal regulator started blocking imports from Cambodia, further aggravating the shortage of animals and a resulting increase in the cost and delays in research. But how big is this … Read more