• where experts go to learn about FDA
  • Sara W. Koblitz

    • FDA Can’t Always Get What It Wants…So It Asks CongressJune 7th, 2022

      As the User Fee Acts move through Congress, it has been clear that FDA is using them as a vehicle to legislatively overturn some big court losses over the last few years.  As faithful readers of our blog know, FDA’s broad interpretations of its governing …

    • Prescription Drug User Fees Ex-PAND-ed to PANDAs (PANDA-monium Part II)June 2nd, 2022

      A little less than a year ago, it was PANDA-monium at FDA when the Agency created a new category of drug applications called the PANDA—or the Pre-Hatch-Waxman Abbreviated New Drug Application—which referred to abbreviated drug applications submitted and approved prior to the enactment of the …

    • Higher and Higher (Into the Fire): Jacobus Appeals Orphan Drug Case to SCOTUSApril 21st, 2022

      Our last post on the Eleventh Circuit’s September 2021 decision in Catalyst v. Becerra got a lot of attention.  We’d like to think that this is because the scope of orphan drug exclusivity is as fascinating to everyone as it is to us, but if …

    • Proposed Legislation Would Reverse Genus DecisionsMarch 30th, 2022

      Legislation has been proposed in Congress that would require FDA to regulate all contrast agents as drugs even though two courts determined that doing so clearly contradicts the plain language of the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (“FDC Act”).  Unless amended, the proposed legislation …

    • Genus Decision Continues to Ripple Through IndustryMarch 29th, 2022

      It’s not often that FDA issues an “Immediately in Effect Guidance,” but it’s not often that a case like Genus v. FDA comes along and upends twenty years of FDA practice.  Almost a year after the D.C. Circuit held that products that simultaneously meet both …

    • Fake News? Fantastic Claims and Where to Find Them (or Where FDA Will)March 4th, 2022

      With our second OPDP enforcement letter of 2022, FDA is making one thing clear: OPDP will find your promotional content—even when it may not look like promotional content.  While it’s not mind-blowing that OPDP would find a series of videos while scrolling Instagram (particularly when …

    • Condition Critical: Court Interprets Orphan Drug Exclusivity BroadlyFebruary 17th, 2022

      Because a drug is designated an “Orphan” if it is intended to treat a “rare condition,” the condition itself always has been integral to Orphan Drug Exclusivity.  Indeed, the condition for which the product is intended to treat dictates the prevalence calculation by which FDA …

    • But Is It Insta-Worthy? OPDP’s First Letter of 2022February 7th, 2022

      Well, OPDP is kicking off 2022 in a big way – taking on an Eli Lilly Instagram post with video for Trulicity.  This is the second time in a little over a month that Eli Lilly has found itself caught in OPDP’s cross-hairs.  On the …

    • With Orange Book Reform, We’re on the Road to NowhereFebruary 1st, 2022

      I don’t mean to be so pessimistic, but 18 months after opening a docket requesting comments on potential “modernizations” for the Orange Book and one year after the passage of the Orange Book Transparency Act, FDA issued its Report on Orange Book reform essentially concluding …

    • Is The Skinny Label Back From the Dead?January 12th, 2022

      Since the August 2021 decision in GSK v. Teva, the generic industry has been waiting with bated breath to see whether the section viii carve-out (and thus skinny-labeled generic drugs) will survive.  With the District Court of Delaware’s January 4 decision in a similar case …

    • California Dreaming Part 4: The Court Tells California to Keep on DreamingDecember 21st, 2021

      Since California passed AB 824: Preserving Access to Affordable Drugs in September 2019, the Association for Accessible Medicines (“AAM”) has been trying to invalidate the law, which imposes a presumption of anticompetitive effect on any Paragraph IV patent settlement in which the generic sponsor receives …

    • Oops!… [FDA] Did It Again: Another Orphan Drug Act Loss for FDA Based on Unambiguous Statutory Text; 11th Circuit Rules that the Scope of Orphan Drug Exclusivity is Determined by the Rare Disease or Condition Designated, and Not the Indication ApprovedOctober 5th, 2021

      In the appellate courts lately, it’s been FDA “Against the Music.”  In yet another decision based on statutory interpretation, an appellate court has decided that FDA’s interpretation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) is contrary to the plain text of the statute.  …

    • Drug Pricing Reform Gathers Steam (Part 1): White House Drug Pricing Plan Offers Laundry List of Existing Democrat PrioritiesSeptember 14th, 2021

      Despite vigorous criticism of high drug prices from the public and politicians in both parties, drug companies have largely dodged bullets on drug pricing and payment reform.  In 2018, Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices and …

    • Ding Dong is the Skinny Label (Effectively) Dead?September 7th, 2021

      Innovators rejoice while generic sponsors mourn: In the wake of the latest in GSK v. Teva decision, the skinny label may be dead. The “skinny label,” also known as a “carve-out” or a “section viii statement,” is a widely-used statutory provision adopted in the Hatch Waxman …

    • It’s PANDA-monium at FDAAugust 17th, 2021

      Meet the newest category of drug applications: the PANDA.  A PANDA, or the Pre-Hatch-Waxman Abbreviated New Drug Application, refers to abbreviated drug applications submitted and approved under sections 505(b) and 505(c) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) prior to the enactment of …