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the rules and specific protocol for submitting controlled correspondence to the Office of Generic Drugs (OGD) in a draft guidance published on August 27,...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...
FDA Thinking on Biosimilar Immunogenicity Issues - A Case Study Based on the Enoxaparin ANDA Approval
Following extensive marketing of Lovenox® (enoxaparin sodium), a low-molecular weight heparin, a number of biosimilar versions of enoxaparin and one ANDA-approved formulation (enoxaparin sodium,...
What Can Testosterone Gels Teach Us About Abuse-Deterrent Opioids?
For most drugs, the process of developing and obtaining FDA approval of a generic version is simple and well-defined: sponsors must only prove that their product is pharmaceutically equivalent and...
Rethinking the OTC Monograph System
When the OTC drug review was undertaken in the 1970s, it was deemed the best solution available at the time for efficiently assessing the safety and efficacy of the countless drug products being sold...
Words, Words, Words: The Importance of Diction in Regulatory Submissions
In continuation of its series of guidances on electronic submissions, FDA recently released a guidance for receipt dates of electronic submissions which emphasizes one important fact: word choice...
FDA Revisits the Topic of INDs for Dietary Supplements
One of the fundamental disconnects in the dietary supplement world is that despite the fact that manufacturers of dietary supplements are not allowed to make claims regarding effects on diseases,...
FDA Issues a Reminder on Excipients in Dietary Supplements
In the new guidance on substances that can be added to foods, including beverages and dietary supplements, the FDA reminds manufacturers that the excipients added to oral dosage forms of these...
Unapproved Codeine Products and Some DESI Drugs need FDA Approval or Cease Marketing
In a Federal Register notice published today, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its intention to take enforcement action against misbranded or unapproved prescription products...