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

    • Makin’ It: How Does the Safe Harbor Apply to Biosimilar Manufacturing?March 18th, 2020

      With the growth of biosimilar applications, courts have been faced with a litany of questions arising from the interplay between reference product intellectual property and the biosimilar application process.  Though the BPCIA was designed to “learn” from FDA’s experience with the Hatch-Waxman Act, the procedural …

    • If FDA Won’t Regulate, Maybe the Courts Will: First Circuit Opines on Listing Device Patents in the Orange BookMarch 16th, 2020

      Since as early as 2005, industry has asked FDA for its input on the listing of device patents in the Orange Book (see our previous post here).  FDA has, for the most part, refused to address this question.  As such, industry has decided to just …

    • Paw Shucks: Court Defers to FDA’s Request for Additional Animal StudiesFebruary 18th, 2020

      Animals, shmanimals.  Or so says FDA.  Well, FDA didn’t actually say that, but that’s the effect of the District Court of D.C.’s recent ruling in Vanda Pharmaceuticals v. FDA.  In a case we have been following for the last year or so, the District Court …

    • Knives Out: Carving Up an aBLAFebruary 12th, 2020

      As more biosimilars are approved (we’re up to 26 now!), FDA has been rolling out guidance documents under the Biosimilars Action Plan (“BAP”).  The most recent guidance has been long awaited.  While the Hatch-Waxman Act explicitly provides that an applicant can seek approval for only …

    • Dueling It Out with FDA over NCE ExclusivityFebruary 7th, 2020

      Those familiar with the Hatch-Waxman Act and its various incentives to stimulate drug innovation know that New Chemical Entity (“NCE”) exclusivity is the holy grail of small molecule exclusivity.  Though orphan drug may give a sponsor two more years of exclusivity than NCE, it only …

    • Everyone’s a Critic: FDA Under Fire for High Drug Approval NumbersFebruary 6th, 2020

      Lately, FDA has been subject to criticism on almost every front.  A recent NY Times Op-Ed alleging political interference, the popular theory that FDA fueled the opioid crisis, and the quality and inspection concerns raised in the 2019 book Bottle of Lies are all emblematic …

    • FDA’s Getting Its Priorities Straight: Revised ANDA Priority MAPPFebruary 3rd, 2020

      Only about 2 years after its last revision (which was only 5 months after its previous revision), FDA decided this week that MAPP 5240.3, Prioritization of Original ANDAs, Amendments, and Supplements, just wasn’t working.  With too many ANDA submissions designated as priority, and thereby entitled …

    • California Dreaming Part 2: The Constitutional ChallengeJanuary 29th, 2020

      Back in September 2019, California passed AB 824: Preserving Access to Affordable Drugs.  That law sought to discourage “reverse-payment agreements” in which a brand manufacturer enters into a patent settlement agreement with a potential generic sponsor that involves a transfer of value from the brand …

    • Court Decides FDA Can’t Regulate Device as DrugDecember 9th, 2019

      The distinction between a drug and a device is a critical one: drugs and devices are subject to different regulatory schemes, with the drug pathway being significantly more onerous and expensive.  User fees alone for a generic drug total $300,000 for the first year compared …

    • Hot Sticky Sweet: FDA Provides Advice on Biosimilar Applications for InsulinDecember 5th, 2019

      As we move in to 2020, FDA is fastidiously preparing for the event 10 years in the making: the transition.  For those of you unfamiliar with the “transition,” it refers to the “deemed to be a license” provision of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation …

    • Teeth, They Must Be Very Much Worthwhile: GAO Report on REMS Abuses Notes Lack of Agency EnforcementNovember 20th, 2019

      The Government Accountability Office released a new Report last week focusing on the oft-analyzed tactics used by some innovator or brand-name pharmaceutical manufacturers to keep generic versions of products off the market.  Like some facets of then-Commissioner Gottlieb’s Drug Competition Action Plan, the GAO Report …

    • Is California Dreamin? Reverse Payment Agreements Presumptively AnticompetitiveSeptember 18th, 2019

      Following the recent trend of state intervention where federal legislative action has failed, California passed a bill last week discouraging patent infringement settlements that delay drug competition.  Pay-for-delay settlements or “reverse-payment agreements” arise when the RLD-sponsor pays the putative generic sponsor to drop any Paragraph …

    • Dust Yourself Off and Try Again: GAO Report On ANDA Approval Shows that Multiple Review Cycles Are Still Often NecessaryAugust 9th, 2019

      Over the last few years, FDA has clearly prioritized efficient generic development (see, for example, the Drug Competition Action Plan).  While FDA hosted public meetings, published MAPP revisions, and compiled lists of off-patent/off-exclusivity drugs, Congress reauthorized the Generic Drug User Fee Act in 2017 and …

    • Go for It! (Connect) Paragraph IV! FDA Revamps ANDA Paragraph IV Certifications ListJune 19th, 2019

      The Paragraph IV certification list on FDA’s website is a very useful tool for generic drug manufacturers in evaluating the potential for 180 day exclusivity for any given product. The list generally describes drug products for which one or more substantially complete ANDA containing a paragraph …

    • Anything You Can Do I Can Do (Better?): Demonstrating Biosimilar InterchangeabilityMay 16th, 2019

      FDA recently finalized its guidance document intended to assist protein biosimilar manufacturers in demonstrating interchangeability, Considerations in Demonstrating Interchangeability With a Reference Product.  Interchangeability, as of now, is nothing more than a pipe dream; no biosimilar has been declared interchangeable and therefore fully substitutable for …