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  • Drug Development

    • A Doggone Shame for Vanda: DC District Court Grants FDA’s Remand Motion on Dog Study/IND Clinical Hold ChallengeMarch 19th, 2019

      About 6 weeks after Vanda filed its complaint, the company’s lawsuit has joined its clinical trial: on hold.  Last week, the District Court of D.C. granted FDA’s motion for a voluntary remand of the case challenging FDA’s requirement to perform 9-month large animal studies prior …

    • ACI’s 33rd FDA Boot Camp – New York City EditionMarch 8th, 2019

      The American Conference Institute’s (“ACI’s”) popular “FDA Boot Camp” – now in its 33rd iteration – is scheduled to take place from March 25-27, 2019, at the Park Lane Hotel in New York, NY. The conference is billed as the premier event to provide folks …

    • Vanda Has A Bone to Pick with FDA: Dog StudiesFebruary 22nd, 2019

      As avowed dog-lovers and FDA law enthusiasts, a recent Complaint filed in the District Court of D.C. caught our attention.  Vanda Pharmaceuticals filed a Complaint on February 6, 2019 alleging that FDA’s insistence that Vanda perform a 9-month dog study with its drug candidate tradipitant …

    • CBER’s Learnings on Regenerative Medicine Development Reflected in Guidance UpdatesFebruary 19th, 2019

      With a little over a year under FDA’s belt implementing its Comprehensive Regenerative Medicine Policy Framework (which we blogged about here), CBER has updated its current thinking with the issuance of final versions of the two Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (“RMAT”)-related guidance documents: Expedited Programs for …

    • Commissioner Gottlieb and CBER Director Marks Deliver “State of Cell and Gene Therapy” Joint StatementJanuary 30th, 2019

      As we await our nation’s State of the Union address, FDA’s own Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) Director Peter Marks issued a joint statement providing a state of union of sorts on the development and regulation of cell and …

    • FDLI to Sponsor Webinar on Patient Assistance ProgramsJanuary 28th, 2019

      Next Thursday, February 7, the Food and Drug Law Institute will conduct a webinar entitled, “Patient Assistance Programs, Recent Enforcement and Best Practices.”  The webinar will cover the various forms of patient assistance programs, the legal authorities that apply to them, recent enforcement actions, best …

    • Coming Soon for Expanded Access PoliciesJanuary 4th, 2019

      Many companies with investigational drugs have posted an expanded access policy on their websites as required, but more than a few still have this task left over from the 2018 to-do list.  As the time for New Year’s resolutions and new to-do lists is upon …

    • National Academies of Sciences Releases Report on Science of Patient Input, Citing Input from HP&M’s James ValentineDecember 18th, 2018

      On December 13, 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released the proceedings of a May 2018 expert workshop entitled “Advancing the Science of Patient Input in Medical Product R&D: Towards a Research Agenda”.  The workshop, hosted by the Academies’ Forum on Drug …

    • Freedom of Information…Unless Agencies Decide Otherwise?December 11th, 2018

      On Friday, the Yale Law School Media Freedom and Information Access law clinic filed a complaint against FDA, HHS, and NIH alleging violations of the Administrative Procedure Act based on Section 801 of the FDA Amendment Act (FDAAA), which requires results reporting of clinical trials …

    • FDA Proposed Rule Allows Waiver of Informed Consent If IRB Finds Risk Is MinimalNovember 15th, 2018

      The informed consent requirements in drug and device trials are important for subject protection. But there are trials where it is not possible (or difficult) to obtain consent, and the risk to subjects is minimal. Until recently, these trials could not go forward. In the 21st …

    • Putting the “Complete” Back into Complete Response LettersOctober 25th, 2018

      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 …

    • Formal Dispute Resolution: A Different Perspective on Wins and LossesOctober 9th, 2018

      In determining whether to submit a Formal Dispute Resolution Request (FDRR) appealing a Complete Response Letter (CRL) or other adverse action from FDA’s Office of New Drugs (OND), applicants necessarily consider how often such appeals are successful. The most cited relevant statistics were published by …

    • It’s a Trap – Or Is It? PMRS’ Abuse-Deterrent Opioid NDASeptember 17th, 2018

      After submitting five Citizen Petitions to FDA since 2016 (see Docket Nos. FDA-2018-P-2851; FDA-2017-P-4352; FDA-2017-P-3064; FDA-2017-P-1359; FDA-2016-P-0645) alleging that evidence does not support approval of opioids, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Research Services (“PMRS”) is trying a new tactic to challenge FDA’s regulatory scheme for abuse-deterrent opioids: court.  PMRS …

    • Burden of “Right to Try” Implementation on Sponsors (for Now); Risk of Unexpected SAEs Negatively Impacting Development and Approval Still RemainsJune 8th, 2018

      On May 30, 2018, the federal “Right to Try” law was enacted, creating a new legal framework for access to investigational drugs in limited situations outside of a clinical trial. See S. Rep. No. 204, 115 Cong. (2018). “Right to Try” was intended to reduce …

    • FDA to Modernize Drug Review Office Structure and ProcessesJune 5th, 2018

      On June 4, 2018, FDA posted a statement from CDER Director Janet Woodcock announcing a multi-pronged FDA initiative to modernize FDA’s drug review offices and processes.  The initiative will involve: Staffing increases Increasing the number of review offices from the current 5 to 9 and the review …