On September 14, 2018, FDA issued two new guidance documents on voluntary consensus standards used in medical device premarket submissions: (1) a draft guidance titled “Recognition and Withdrawal of Voluntary Consensus Standards” (Draft Guidance); and (2) a final guidance titled “Appropriate Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards in …
The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) recently announced a new voluntary pilot program to streamline review of 510(k) submissions for ophthalmic optical coherence tomography (OCT) devices. OCT devices are devices that are used for viewing, imaging, measurement, and analysis …
Maryland Attorney General (“AG”) Brian Frosh is not going down without a fight in his bid to defend a Maryland law prohibiting “price gouging” by generic pharmaceutical manufacturers. H.B. 631, 437th Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Md. 2017) (hereinafter, “HB 631”), was passed by the Maryland …
A biotech company facing a complete response letter (CRL) action on its NDA/BLA has no greater goal than to quickly and fully understand the deficiencies that FDA has identified in the application. Such an understanding is critical to addressing the review division’s findings through additional …
Last week, the President signed into law a bill that gives the FTC greater authority to police agreements between biologic license holders and biosimilar applicants – so-called “pay-for-delay” settlements. The FTC has been focused on these settlements in the pharmaceutical space for years, but until now …
As many of our readers know, slack fill litigation has increased within the food and beverage industry over the past several years. Approximately 300 slack fill cases were filed between 2016 and 2017, principally in California and New York. By definition, “slack fill” is the difference …
Please clear your mind of any premature thoughts and allusions that are untoward or prurient in nature. The title of this post refers only to an unusually extended time for one ANDA applicant to obtain tentative approval for a generic version of an erectile dysfunction …
Few drugs in the history of Hatch-Waxman have as storied a history as RESTASIS (cyclosporine) Ophthalmic Emulsion, 0.05%. First, there was litigation against FDA as to the status of the drug as an “antibiotic” (see here). Second, there’s the recent fight over whether the St. …
We previously blogged on the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) rescheduling of Epidiolex. In that blog we highlighted that further action by the World Health Organization (“WHO”) and the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (“CND”) could further affect scheduling of cannabidiol (“CBD”) and cannabis in the …
What is “truthful and non-misleading” in prescription drug promotion is often in the eye of the beholder. And, when it comes to enforcement, FDA is usually the arbiter. Over the years, FDA has taken on a number of initiatives and invested significant resources to better …
Earlier this year, we blogged on an interesting case out of the District of Delaware, FTC v. Shire ViroPharma, No. 17-cv-00131 (D. Del. Feb. 7, 2017), which called into question the FTC’s authority to litigate pursuant to section 13(b) of the FTC Act (15 U.S.C. …
The rubber has finally hit the road on an idea that earlier this year was considered (and rejected) by Congress, supported in a presidential tweet, and promoted by FDA Commissioner Gottlieb and HHS Secretary Azar. A proposed rule released today by CMS would require pharmaceutical …
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: timing matters when it comes to pretty much anything concerning Hatch-Waxman. . . especially Paragraph IV 180-day exclusivity. And the new Competitive Generic Therapy (“CGT”) 180-day exclusivity regime created by the 2017 FDA Reauthorization …
As we previously speculated might come to pass, FDA announced that it is amending the food additive regulation for synthetic flavoring substances and adjuvants (21 C.F.R. § 172.515) to remove six substances found to induce cancer in animals, namely benzophenone, ethyl acrylate, eugenyl methyl ether …
Last month, FDA announced a plan for revamping the 510(k) Third Party Review Program (the “Program”), which was outlined in a publication, Eliminating Routine FDA Re-Review of Third Party 510(k) Reviews (the “Plan”). One element of the Plan includes the issuance of a draft guidance, …
