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    • “Eggshell Plaintiffs” Meet Administrative Deference: Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Proposed Chicken Shed RuleMarch 6th, 2017

      Some lawyers old enough to remember carbon paper may also remember, in their archaic law school teaching, the “eggshell plaintiff” rule, accurately described as “a maxim that a tort defendant takes his victim as he finds him.” Also referred to as the “eggshell skull rule,” …

    • Maybe It Was Worth a Try . . . . Kentucky Defendant, Charged with Illegally Selling “Herbal Supplements,” Loses Motion to DismissMarch 1st, 2017

      In the absence of blogworthy FDA regulatory pronouncements (draft regulations, draft guidances, and oxymoronically named “tentative final rules”), material for FDA Law Blog posts is harder to come by these days (meaning, since President Trump’s inauguration, not coincidentally). Now comes across our computer screen a …

    • Drug Debarment Actions: BewareFebruary 26th, 2017

      FDA recently released a report summarizing its enforcement activities for FY 2016 (October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016). It shows, among other things, that the number of warning letters from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research doubled (76 in FY 2015 to 151 …

    • Rare Basis for False Claims Act SettlementFebruary 12th, 2017

      It has become almost commonplace to see a weekly announcement of a False Claims Act settlement by a major pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturer. Perhaps that is why last month’s settlement by Baxter Healthcare Corporation flew under the radar of the FCA bar.  Or perhaps …

    • The FTC Takes Action for Alleged Anticompetitive Citizen Petitioning Activities Surrounding Generic VANCOCINFebruary 7th, 2017

      It is often said that companies have an absolute right to petition the government to take or not take action without fearing exposure to an antitrust suit.  This “right” is thought to be based on a series of Supreme Court decisions that are collectively commonly referred …

    • Update on the DeCosters’ Case: Here Comes the U.S. Supreme Court (Maybe)January 22nd, 2017

      Loyal readers know that we at the FDALawBlog have been closely following a significant Park Doctrine case wending its way through the courts, involving father and son Austin (“Jack”) and Peter DeCoster, former executives of Quality Egg, LLC. In an earlier blog posting, we stated …

    • OPDP Doubles Enforcement Letters, But is Carefully Picking Its BattlesJanuary 20th, 2017

      After a relatively slow first 11 months of 2016, FDA’s Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (“OPDP”) issued a flurry of letters in the span of 9 days in December, more than doubling the enforcement letters issued up to that point in the year. And the …

    • First Circuit Rejects Fraud-on-FDA Allegations Under False Claims ActJanuary 16th, 2017

      Just before the holidays, the First Circuit gave the defense bar a gift by applying a stringent standard to reject a fraud-on-FDA claim under the federal False Claims Act (FCA). This case effectively serves as the death knell for the fraudulent inducement theory in the …

    • Not Dead Yet – OPDP Issues Two Untitled Letters Late in the Year (Our 3,000th Post!)December 18th, 2016

      Your friendly neighborhood bloggers were tempted to headline this post with a Buzzfeed worthy headline such as “When FDA pointed out THIS ONE THING, industry was SHOCKED!” or “FDA issues flood of letters – 25% of 2016 output in a single day.  What happened next …

    • FDA’s Draft Quality Metrics Guidance, Version 2.0December 5th, 2016

      Last month, FDA announced the publication of a revised version of the Draft Quality Metrics Guidance that it had published back in July of 2015. We had blogged about the original Draft Guidance at that time (see prior posting here).  Below we provide a brief …

    • There’s a New Reporting Tool in TownNovember 3rd, 2016

      By Jennifer M. Thomas –  Last week, FDA rolled out a new online reporting program, titled “Reporting Allegations of Regulatory Misconduct,” with little fanfare. No blog post in FDA Voice, no press conference, and even the (longwinded) name of the program seems calculated to send the …

    • Update on the DeCoster Criminal CaseOctober 7th, 2016

      By Jennifer M. Thomas – You might have read in our blog post two weeks ago that Quality Egg, LLC executives Austin (Jack) and Peter DeCoster had petitioned for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc of the Eight Circuit opinion affirming their three-month prison sentences.  Last …

    • Say Cheese! FDA Issues Warning Letter Based Solely on Company’s “Refusal”October 6th, 2016

      By Anne K. Walsh & Robert A. Dormer – As we predicted it might, FDA effectively shut down a drug facility based solely on its conduct during an FDA inspection, without any observed GMP or safety concern related to the company’s products or procedures.  In a …

    • The DeCosters Battle OnSeptember 20th, 2016

      By Jennifer M. Thomas – As predicted in our last post on the significant Park­­-related litigation arising out of the Quality Egg case, Austin (Jack) and Peter Decoster timely petitioned for panel or en banc rehearing of their Eighth Circuit challenge to three-month prison sentences imposed …

    • FDA Rolls Out a New Form—You May Want to Pay Attention to This OneSeptember 15th, 2016

      By JP Ellison & Wes Siegner – There are 12 pages of FDA forms on the FDA website covering everything from product topics (foods, drugs, cosmetics, etc.) to safety forms and FDA field operations forms.  Unless we missed it, one of FDA’s newest forms isn’t on its website.  …