A Decade of the FDA Law Blog!!

Believe it or not, Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C.’s FDA Law Blog turns 10 years old today (Monday, March 6, 2017). Where have all of the years gone?  It seems like Tuesday, March 6, 2007 was just yesterday.  That’s when we put up our initial post promising to cover “topics of interest to FDA-regulated companies, fellow food and drug and healthcare lawyers and regulatory personnel, as well as people just generally interested in FDA law.”  We think we’ve fulfilled that promise!  (At least that’s what all of the awards we’ve received tell us.)

Since that day in March 2007, things have never been quite the same. Apparently we’ve become a fixture of the food and drug law bar and required reading for the FDA-regulated industries.  In fact, one of your blogmasters recently mentioned the impending anniversary to a colleague in the food and drug bar.  We were met with: “Only 10 years?  The blog is an institution!”  While we were happy to be labeled an institution, we took (slight) exception to his use of the word “only.”  While the ten years have gone by fast, it’s been grueling work at times (not unlike running a marathon).  We’ve spent thousands of hours researching topics, writing posts (sometimes at unusual hours when we should be sleeping), and creating and updating our popular trackers.  In fact, we’ve written over 3,060 posts!  Assuming each posts averages two pages of text (standard 8.5 x 11 paper), laid out end-to-end we have over 1.06 miles of posts. 

But all of the work we do has been (and continues to be) worth the effort! We’ve grown a large following – with about 20,000 subscribers – and have had tens of millions of page views and blog website hits.  We’re regularly cited (in the press, in journal articles, and sometimes in judicial decisions) as a reliable authority.  And we appreciate all of the fanmail, kudos, and recommendations we’ve received along the way from interested readers. 

Most importantly, we’ve had a lot of fun writing for the FDA Law Blog and have learned a lot. Food and drug law may not be the sexiest topic (the Hatch-Waxman genre is though!), and can get quite technical at times.  But we try to spice things up when we can with pop culture references and attention-grabbing headlines.  Where else would you see Godot and FDA called out in the same sentence other than here?  Or learn about “false friends” . . . or get to chuckle over a headline like “Flare-Up Over Generic Herpes Drug Could be Short-Lived” . . . or pick up an earworm for the day (click here and here if you want one).

In any case, thank you to all of our readers for your attention and support over the past decade. We cannot wait to see what the next decade might bring for FDA regulation, the regulated industries, and the advancements in science and technology that make all of our lives better.