On Thursday, November 14, President-Elect Trump announced his pick of Robert Kennedy, Jr., for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Although not altogether surprising, the formality of an official announcement still came as a shock to many of us who work in areas regulated …
In most instances, it is clear if a product will be considered a “device” under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). Sometimes, though, the question of classification defies an easy answer. When a company is unsure if its product is a device, …
A recent blog post focused on the potentially negative implications of the proposed Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) for manufacturers of generic drugs and biosimilar products. The concerns raised by PERA are not limited to these industries, however. Rather, developers of diagnostic tests and, indeed …
Thank you to readers of this blog. We received incredible feedback on our August 19 post analyzing the number of decision summaries that have been posted for De Novos. We are happy to report that fifteen new decision summaries have been posted as of August 28. …
In 1997, Congress wisely amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) by adding Section 513(f)(2) to establish the De Novo process. The De Novo process provides a regulatory pathway to classify novel devices for which general controls alone or general and special controls …
It’s been over a year and a half since Over-the-Counter (“OTC”) hearing aids became legal, and it’s not clear that they’ve made the difference in hearing loss treatment that Congress anticipated. (FDA once estimated that OTC hearing aids would save patients over $3000.) A recent …
The FDA’s new rule for laboratory developed tests (LDTs), unless overturned through litigation (see here), by legislation, or the election, is going to have profound effects on the U.S. health care system. At this point, nobody knows all the impacts the rule will have. But …
We recently blogged about the Center for Devices and Radiological Health’s (CDRH) reluctance to make full use of real-world data (RWD) and real-world evidence (RWE) to support marketing applications. In response to the post, we did receive feedback from a company that had had the …
FDA has long touted the use of real-world evidence (RWE). Extolling RWE, FDA has said “RWE can be leveraged to bring new products to market, evaluate the safety and effectiveness of existing products for new uses, and assess the continued performance and safety of products …
On April 29, 2024, FDA announced its finalization of the laboratory developed test (LDT) rule. The final rule will be published in the Federal Register on Monday May 6, 2024 (here). The final rule marks another milestone in the more than three decades long battle …
We’ve been hearing for quite some time that a Final LDT Rule would likely be coming this spring, before May 1. This timing has been attributed to FDA’s desire to avoid having the rule being overturned by Congress under the Congressional Review Act. Of course, …
On March 21, 2024, the House Energy and Commerce held a subcommittee hearing titled “Evaluating Approaches to Diagnostic Test Regulation and the Impact of the FDA’s Proposed Rule.” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Subcommittee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), in announcing …
Our last post on small business certification requests described how small medical device manufacturers, defined as those with gross receipts of less than $100 million in gross receipts and sales for the most recent tax year, are eligible for a reduced fee on those medical …
FDA’s proposed rule to regulate laboratory developed tests (LDTs) as devices took one more step towards publication as a final rule – and to a likely judicial showdown. On March 1, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) received the draft final LDT rule for …
In a new publication in the Washington Legal Foundation’s (WLF) Legal Backgrounder, we argue that FDA’s recent proposed rule regulating Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs) is vulnerable to legal challenge, once finalized. FDA’s proposed rule has every hallmark of a case subject to the “major questions …
