Supplier Qualification in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA), was signed into law on July 9, 2012. This law significantly expanded the FDA’s authority and strengthened its ability to safeguard...
Quality Agreements and the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
Over the past several years, outsourcing within the pharmaceutical supply chain has become common. The rise of the “virtual” pharmaceutical company has resulted in a complex supply chain, with the...
FDA Clarifies its Definition of "Convenience Kit"
On January 4, 2016, the FDA published a draft guidance entitled, “Unique Device Identification: Convenience Kits.” The draft guidance comes after the Agency’s 2013 final rule that established a...
The FDA’s Enforcement of Section 503B of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
The FDA publishes weekly enforcement reports highlighting drugs that have been recalled during the previous week. Over the past several months these reports have been littered with hundreds of...
Formal Meetings with the FDA Regarding Biosimilars: What’s Changed?
Recently, biosimilars have made a definite appearance on the FDA’s radar, an expected result after the first biosimilar product gained FDA approval in March and the FDA’s release of four final...
There’s an App for That: FDA Launches Orange Book Express App
On November 9, 2015, FDA launched the Orange Book Express application, which provides a list of the drug products approved by the FDA. What is the Orange Book? The Drug Price Competition and Patent...
Draft Guidance for Microbial Vectors Used for Gene Therapy Outlines FDA Safety Concerns
Issues for Sponsors with INDs and CMC concerns FDA recently released a draft guidance entitled “Recommendations for Microbial Vectors Used for Gene Therapy” as a supplemental guidance to “Guidance...
Regulatory Sciences
FDA Issues Final Guidance on Providing Regulatory Submission in Electronic Format – The eCTD Mandate is Coming
On May 5, 2015, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the final guidance on Providing Regulatory Submissions in electronic format. The guidance implements the electronic submission...
Will There Ever Be An FDA-Approved Generic Insulin?
On February 25, 2015, FDA approved Toujeo, a once-daily, long-acting recombinant insulin. A year earlier an inhaled formulation of insulin, Afrezza, was approved. These recent additions to the...
Drug Development Questions And The FDA - The End Of The Black Hole
Commonly during drug development, significant issues arise for which FDA input is desired but that do not merit a full face-to-face multidisciplinary milestone meeting. In many cases, sponsors are...
Learn Your Lessons Well: How Regulatory Strategies and Clinical Trial Design Affect Approvability
A recent analysis by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development places the price tag of bringing a new drug to market at around $2.6 billion. The reason for this is simple: failure. Drugs...
FDA Prepares for GDUFA Commitments with Controlled Correspondence Guidance
With the implementation of GDUFA, FDA defined the rules and specific protocol for submitting controlled correspondence to the Office of Generic Drugs (OGD) in a draft guidance published on August 27,...
FDA Aims to Standardize REMS Programs
On September 23, FDA released a report regarding “Standardizing and Evaluating Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS)”. This fulfills FDA’s PDUFA commitment to issue a report of findings...
FDA Updates Informed Consent Guidance
FDA recently updated its informed consent guidance in the form of an Information Sheet. The new document reflects the Agency’s current thinking on the informed consent process utilized in...
New 510(k) Guidance Bans 'Split Predicates'
Medical device manufacturers may need to re-think their approach to demonstrating substantial equivalence (SE) in the 510(k) notification process, due to the FDA’s recent finalization of the guidance...
Monoclonal Antibody Sameness - Effects on Orphan Drug Development
We note with interest FDA’s recently released Guidance for Industry: Interpreting Sameness of Monoclonal Antibody Products Under the Orphan Drug Regulations (April 2014). The guidance summarizes the...