FDA Launches New Nutritional Label Education Campaign

In the last few years, the nutritional labels for foods have gone through major revisions. Proper nutrition is critically dependent on the consumer’s ability to understand the nutritional content of the food they consume. And it is even more important in times of limited mobility such as these days with the travel and movement restrictions … Read more

FDA Guidance for Trials in Pandemic Hints that Virtual Clinical Trials Are Least Affected

Most ongoing clinical trials in the US have been suspended indefinitely, and no new trials are being initiated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. FDA advices measures like those implemented during a temporary clinical hold in such circumstances. With shelter at home advisory and mandatory quarantine in place in most places in the country, clinics must … Read more

Academic Research INDs to Follow CTD Format: FDA Guidance

Research INDs, sponsored mostly by academic centers, are exempt from electronic submission and, hence, are mostly filed in traditional paper format. FDA now wants even those INDs to follow the Common Technical Document (CTD) format and submit electronically via the Electronic Submission Gateway (ESG) but would exempt them from the electronic CTD requirements, namely the … Read more

FDA Suspends GMP Inspections But All Other Tasks Continue 

FDA announced this week that it is cancelling all scheduled foreign inspections and limit domestic travel only to mission critical functions essentially stopping all inspection activities to address the spread of coronavirus infection. This is an extension of last week’s announcement where FDA cancelled all inspections in China. During this time, FDA would rely on … Read more

FDA Approval of Generic Daraprim Demonstrates the Slowness of FDA Process

This week FDA approved the first generic drug version of Daraprim. This drug was made famous about 5 years ago when a company increased its price by 5000% almost overnight due to a manufacturing monopoly and the CEO of the company, Martin Shkreli, became the poster-boy of bad pricing and illegal business practices. The fact … Read more

FDA Counters Coronavirus Based on the Realities of the Connected World  

World’s response to COVID-19, the flu-like disease caused by the latest strain of coronavirus, highlights key aspects of how we would handle any potential pandemic. Although most of the measures to control the spread, rapid diagnosis, and management of the disease have been taken by the Chinese government where the disease originated and has caused … Read more

Peer Reviewed Publications Mostly Lack Raw Data

A detailed analysis of all articles submitted for publication to a leading medical journal over the last two years by the Editor-in-Chief saw that in most cases authors were unable to provide raw data to their articles when requested, raising doubts about the authenticity and credibility of the data being presented for publication. Although 97% … Read more

Government Reports List Ways to Reduce Admin Burden of Electronic Medical Records

Electronic health records (EHRs) related administrative and regulatory burdens cause increased physician burnouts and leading to loss of productivity. A report by the DHHS’s Health IT office released this week lists ways to reduce the effort and time required to record information in EHRs, reduce the effort and time required to meet regulatory reporting requirements, … Read more

Does FDA Allow Cockroaches and Rat Hair in Chocolate?

There is a video circulating on social media claiming that FDA allows significant amounts of filthy content in common foods such as cockroach parts, rat hair, and animal excreta in chocolate, mold and insect eggs in orange juice, insect larvae in corn, and so on. There is some truth in this statement, but it is … Read more

FDA Has the Final Say For What Studies Are Needed for Approval

Last year, Vanda Pharmaceuticals sued FDA for putting its clinical trial on partial hold for lack of nonclinical data from dog studies. This week, a federal court ruled that FDA has the authority to ask for any additional data that FDA’s reviewers deem necessary to lift the clinical hold. The court further ruled that Vanda … Read more