By Kurt R. Karst – A recent report issued by the London School of Economics and Political Science (“LSEPS”), and commissioned by the Swedish government, urges governments to create new incentives to promote the research and development of antibiotics in light of the growing concern over …
By Alan M. Kirschenbaum & Kurt R. Karst – Earlier today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) unveiled the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962). The bill, which is the latest version of the House’s healthcare reform proposal and the one that will go …
By Susan J. Matthees – On October 27th, on the heels of the release of the Government Accountability Office’s report in which the Office is critical of FDA’s oversight of clinical investigators (see our previous post), Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) introduced H.R.3932, the Strengthening of …
By Susan J. Matthees – Last month the Government Accountability Office ("GAO") published a new report ("GAO report") on the oversight of clinical investigators. The report is critical of FDA’s oversight of clinical investigators, citing numerous instances where FDA did not take timely action to respond …
By Kurt R. Karst – Earlier this week, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California a filed by Mutual Pharmaceutical Company, Inc. (“Mutual”), and AR Scientific, Inc. and AR Holding Company, Inc. (“AR”) in a Lanham Act case concerning the continued marketing …
By Susan J. Matthees – FDA recently announced two new developments related to its review of proprietary name submissions. First, FDA announced the availability of a new manual of policies and procedures (“MAPP”), MAPP 6720.2: Procedures for Handling Requests for Proprietary Name Review, that details the …
By Alan M. Kirschenbaum – Last Friday the Senate Finance Committee completed its mark-up of the “America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009.” The Committee is awaiting scoring by the Congressional Budget Office before it votes on the bill this week. Earlier we reported on the original …
By William T. Koustas – FDA recently issued its most extensive guidance for industry regarding Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (“REMS”) since their enactment of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (“FDAAA”). The “Draft Guidance for Industry: Format and Content of Proposed …
By William T. Koustas – The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“Court”) recently issued an opinion affirming the FDA’s (or “Agency”) approval of the anthrax vaccine for all known routes of infection and rejected the Plaintiffs’ efforts to enjoin …
By Jeffrey K. Shapiro – FDA’s Office of Combination Products (“OCP”) recently issued a proposed rule (74 Fed. Reg. 48,423) setting forth current good manufacturing practice (“cGMP”) requirements for combination products. The proposed rule does not independently establish new requirements; rather, it clarifies which set of …
By Alan M. Kirschenbaum – The Senate Finance Committee began today to mark up its healthcare reform bill, the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009. In a previous post, we provided an outline of the provisions of the Chairman’s Mark that would specifically affect drug …
By Kurt R. Karst – Over the past several weeks there has been growing chatter about FDA’s Document Archiving, Reporting and Regulatory Tracking System (“DARRTS”) and how its implementation might affect generic drugs. DARRTS is a Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (“CDER”) information technology …
By Carrie S. Martin – On September 21, 2009, FDA announced in a Federal Register notice that the Agency plans to hold a public hearing to discuss issues regarding the promotion of FDA-regulated products – specifically prescription drugs, prescription biologics, and medical devices – via the …
By Alan M. Kirschenbaum – Today the Senate Finance Committee (“SFC”) released the Chairman’s Mark of the “America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009,” which currently is scheduled for Committee mark up next Tuesday, September 22. Among the various health reform proposals in the House and Senate, …
By Douglas B. Farquhar – Pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer has agreed to the largest drug marketing settlement yet – $2.3 billion (yes, that is “billion” with a “b”) to resolve claims originally brought by six whistleblowers that the firm illegally marketed four drugs – according to …
