While electronic submissions for drug and biologics applications have existed for more than a decade, medical device applications still get submitted as printed submissions and electronic copies that must be physically delivered to the FDA headquarters near Washington DC. Finally, this week, FDA started accepted truly electronic submissions for medical device applications and the process … Read more
For patients with untreatable serious or life-threatening diseases, the benefit of compassionate use or expanded access programs is indisputable. However, companies providing drugs to patients under these programs can also use these as opportunities to generate valuable real-world data in support of their regulatory applications. A report by Novartis’ compassionate use program recommends three steps … Read more
FDA approved drugs that have none or few generic versions are designated as Competitive Generics with special incentives to developers under a law passed in 2017 aimed to avoid monopolies that lead to price gouging. Manufacturers based in India dominate the development of competitive generis with almost 55% of all such generics developed by Indian … Read more
When the Regenerative Medicine Advance Therapy (RMAT) designation was proposed in 2016, it was assumed to be an easier expedited approval pathway specific for stem cells and other regenerative therapies, compared to the Breakthrough Therapy (BTD) designation. But it with about 40% approval rates and only 3 approvals, it may be turning out to be … Read more
Manufacture and distribution of drugs and biologics involve various parties with diverse responsibilities, and it was always confusing as to what regulatory requirements apply to them, till now. Who needs to register with FDA, who needs to pay fees, who needs to be licensed by other authorities, etc.? This week, FDA’s newest Guidance Document list … Read more
In an ideal world, regulatory policies and laws are based on unquestionable data from high quality scientific research but should there be other criteria or a standard for weighing unconventional data when the scientific data is not sufficient? There are numerous instances where claims of benefits by patient were not supported by the clinical trial … Read more
In one of its shortest guidance documents, FDA clarified that the highly coveted and tough to get Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) can be rescinded for multiple reasons. The description of the conditions for rescinding BTDs are not new and have been defined in previous FDA documents, so the purpose of this new guidance is not … Read more
FDA has Systems Recognition Arrangements (SRAs) with Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, whereby it relies on the food safety assessments done by local regulators in those countries to avoid repeating the same by FDA inspectors. In theory, an SRA is a great way to assure quality of imported food, but because of its very limited … Read more
An analysis conducted by the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) found that dietary supplements are not effective in preventing or reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancer, and that supplements rich in beta carotene are indeed more harmful than beneficial. These conclusions, based on the pooled analysis of published clinical trial results, raise … Read more
Since the infamous case of Daraprim price gouging in 2015 where a drug company bought the rights to a drug with no generics and raised the price by 5000% overnight due to its monopoly, FDA has been publishing a list of approved drugs with no patent protection and no generic versions to encourage the industry … Read more
