Kim Kardashian tweets about a morning sickness drug and the world goes crazy. By this time, if you have not heard about it, you may be the only one in the world. But this is not the first time celebrity endorsements have been used by companies to make misleading claims. Celebrities are used to sell all … Read more
Antibiotic resistance is a mounting public health concern with the CDC estimating the annual added cost of treating antibiotic-resistant infections at $20 billion in the US alone. The CDC also estimates that 50-70% of hospital-acquired infections are now resistant to first-line antibiotics. Given the dearth of new classes of antibiotics, drug companies are looking at non-traditional approaches … Read more
On 31st July 2015, FDA approved the World’s first 3D printed pill and it was widely celebrated as a major milestone and, in my ways it is, but for the reasons one may think. The approval is for a new formulation of a well-established epilepsy drug, levetiracetam, called Spritam®. With more than 80 generic drugs containing levetiracetam in … Read more
Off-label promotion is an enigma; it is legal if the doctors do it or if the patients do it by drawing interpretations based on their experience or reading journal articles but it is illegal if a drug company talks about the same information. More than one in five prescriptions (21%) written in the US are for off-label … Read more
Exactly 20 years ago, in late July 1995, Hollywood movie, The Net was released with Sandra Bullock in the lead role. The movie led to many predictions such as widely available wireless internet, interconnected information portals, even online pizza ordering (Pizza Hut and Dominos it seems like got their idea for online order from that movie). In one … Read more
FDA does not have a process for formal review of labels or advertisement material for approved medical device intended for patients and lay caregivers. Most Class I and several Class II devices do not require a doctor’s supervision to buy or use a given medical device. Historically, it was acceptable as most medical devices are used under supervision … Read more
The death toll from prescription opioids abuse has been soaring around the world over the past 20 years. It now exceeds fatalities from road accidents or deaths from heroin and cocaine in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia according to a recent article in Nature magazine. As discussed in the article, some of the more promising … Read more
The FDA has finalized a new guidance recommending continuous refinement of analytical procedures and methods validation over the lifecycle of drug products based on new information collected over time. These recommendations will be additional to drug product quality documentation requirements that are standard during application for market approval or when there is change in the manufacturing process. … Read more
A recent report by two patent law professors, one from the US and one Denmark, raised concerns that reporting of detailed clinical trial information, as required under the current laws, could adversely affect the patentability of new uses of drugs. Analysis of full clinical trials data may reveal novel indications not previously known or obvious, making it … Read more
We consume a lot of drugs and they all end up polluting the environment. Human waste, urine and feces, are the primary sources of drugs found in wastewater and sewage from where it ends up into water bodies such as streams, rivers, lakes, seawater, and eventually, drinking water. FDA has several rules requiring companies to … Read more
