On September 1, 2017, two industry trade associations, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (“PhRMA”) and Biotechnology Innovation Organization (“BIO”), jointly filed a civil action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against the Nevada Governor and Director of the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services …
In a settlement noteworthy to any company with a drug subject to a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (“REMS”), on September 5, 2017, the U.S. announced a multi-million dollar civil settlement with Novo Nordisk for an alleged violation of REMS requirements for its drug Victoza …
Since the Supreme Court issued its False Claims Act (“FCA”) ruling in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. U.S. ex rel. Escobar, 136 S. Ct. 1989 (2016) courts have grappled with Escobar’s concept of FCA “materiality.” Materiality was described by the Supreme Court as a “rigorous” …
As readers of this blog may recall, last year on July 29, 2016, the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard Act (“the Act”) was signed into law. This Act directs the Agricultural Marketing Service of the USDA to develop “a national mandatory bioengineered food disclosure standard” …
Earlier this week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit isued a 31-page Opinion handing FDA a victory in a dispute kicked off by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (collectively “Otsuka”) after FDA’s October 5, …
Whether in the context of asserting First Amendment protection for a pharmaceutical manufacturer’s off-label promotion of an otherwise approved drug (see our previous post here), or successfully challenging FDA’s denial of New Chemical Entity exclusivity VASCEPA (icosapent ethyl) Capsules, 1 gram, (NDA 202057) (see our …
Facing a lawsuit from the food industry and pressure from FDA, the City of New York agreed on Friday to not enforce menu labeling requirements against many restaurants, convenience stores, and other retail food establishments until May 7, 2018. The move aligns the City’s enforcement …
On Monday, August 28th, FDA announced the outlines of a long overdue policy change on stem cells. Based on Dr. Gottlieb’s statements in the FDA press release, it appears to have two prongs. First, the agency announced a crackdown on stem cell clinics that claim …
In an advisory opinion posted on August 25, 2017, the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (“OIG”) determined that enforcement action would not be taken against a drug manufacturer’s proposal to replace products that require specialized handling that …
According to a European Medicines Agency (EMA) press release issued on August 23, 2017, the FDA, the European Commission (EC), and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recently signed a new confidentiality commitment that allows the FDA to share non-public and commercially confidential information, including trade …
In November 2013, the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) of the USDA issued a regulation expanding the circumstances in which labels were eligible for generic label approval (see our previous post here). Under that regulation, meat and poultry labels need not be submitted for label …
In a blog posting that cited the agency’s goal of educating while regulating, FDA released the Food Safety Plan Builder (FSPB) – a software program “designed to assist owners/operators of food facilities with the development of food safety plans that are specific to their facilities …
On August 21, 2017, the Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”), the federal agency responsible for overseeing the 340B Drug Discount Program, published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) that would delay until July 1, 2018 the implementation of the Final …
In June 2017, two consumer advocacy organizations, the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the National Consumer League (“Plaintiffs”), sued FDA challenging the Agency’s interim final rule extending the compliance date for menu labeling and request for comments (see our previous post here). …
FDA seems to be getting bolder in penalizing industry when it prevents an FDA investigator from taking photographs during a routine FDA inspection. On August 2, 2017, FDA issued a Warning Letter to Homeolab USA Inc. (part of the parent company, Homeocan Inc. located in Montreal, …
