FDA Exempts Most DTC Genetics Tests From 510k

In an announcement this week, FDA classified most predictive genetic tests to be 510k-exempt. This is a remarkable about-turn for the Agency who till recently viewed genetic tests to be high risk devices that need 510k or even PMA approval. Last year only FDA first announced and then suspended a decision to strictly regulate genetic … Read more

FDA Follows Through on its Promise to Recognize European GMP Audits

In early September, FDA and EMA announced that they will start recognizing each other’s GMP audits and starting Nov 1 FDA announced that it has started this with eight European countries. As of 1 Nov 2017, if a manufacturing site passed an audit by regulators from Austria, Croatia, France, Italy, Malta, Spain, Sweden and the … Read more

Physician’s Perspective on Simplifying Clinical Trials

Physicians are increasing frustrated with the increasing complexity of clinical trials, in their opinion, and the seeming duplication of work that could be avoided by better use of available technology. A commentary published in MedScape by Dr. John Marshall of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Georgetown University Hospital highlights several common clinical trial … Read more

Physician’s Perspective on Simplifying Clinical Trials

Physicians are increasing frustrated with the increasing complexity of clinical trials, in their opinion, and the seeming duplication of work that could be avoided by better use of available technology. A commentary published in MedScape by Dr. John Marshall of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Georgetown University Hospital highlights several common clinical trial … Read more

Orphan Drug is Generally Not the First Step to Non-Orphan Approval  

About two-thirds of drugs approved as orphan drugs in the last 20 years did not get subsequent approval for other indications, and only 6 orphan drugs out of the 451 approved by FDA ended being top-selling drugs. Conventional wisdom in the industry has been that orphan designation could be the proverbial foot-in-the-door to get subsequent … Read more

FDA’s Audit Manual Updated: Surprisingly No Surprising Changes

This week FDA published the updated inspections manual which does not contain any obvious major changes to the previous version. Earlier this year FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs was reorganized to improve the quality of inspections. However, the inspections manual does not reflect those changes. The “Investigations Operations Manual”, also known as the Audit Manual, … Read more

CTTI Suggests Ways To Reduce “One And Done” Clinical Investigators

About half of the physicians who participate in clinical trials do only one trial, never doing another one. About half of the investigators in clinical trials are new, doing their first, and possibly last, clinical trial. Doctors do not do second trials because of the extra work and time needed to conduct a trial and … Read more

FDA Relaxes eCTD Format to Give More Flexibility to Applicants

In a new guidance released this week FDA revised the CTD and eCTD formats of market approval applications for drugs and biologics (NDA, ANDA and BLA) with the intent to simplify the documents and provide higher flexibility for organizing content. FDA also withdrew two previous guidance documents that described detailed granularity instructions giving excruciating details … Read more