By Kurt R. Karst – On May 18th, the U.S. Senate confirmed (by voice vote) President Obama’s pick to head FDA – Dr. Margaret Hamburg. Among other things, Dr. Hamburg has worked extensively on bioterrorism issues. For six years in the 1990s, Dr. Hamburg served …
By Kurt R. Karst – We learned earlier today that Michael M. Landa, Esq. was named as FDA’s new Acting Chief Counsel. Mr. Landa, who will assume his new role on April 13, 2009, has a long history with FDA. Since July 2004, Mr. Landa …
By Ricardo Carvajal– In an address highlighting the need to tackle problems with the nation’s food safety system, President Obama today announced the appointments of Dr. Margaret Hamburg as the new FDA Commissioner and Dr. Joshua Sharfstein as Principal Deputy Commissioner with primary responsibility for …
By Susan J. Matthees— FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) recently announced the availability of two guidance documents intended to help investigators, researchers, sponsors, and IRBs understand how data already collected may be used after a …
By James P. Ellison In a November 10, 2008 response posted on November 24, 2008, FDA denied an April 27, 2005 Citizen Petition challenging a March 29, 2005 Interim Final Rule increasing Color Additive Certification Fees as violating the FDC Act and the Administrative Procedure …
Earlier today, FDA announced that Dr. Janet Woodcock was appointed as the permanent director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (“CDER”). The CDER directorship is a position familiar to Dr. Woodcock. She served as CDER Director from 1994 to 2005. Dr. Woodcock’s most …
On February 4, 2008, FDA announced that the Bush Administration is requesting nearly $2.4 billion ($1.77 billion in budget authority and $628 million in user fees) for the Agency as part of the Fiscal Year 2009 budget. Of particular interest in the proposed FY2009 budget …
Over the past few weeks, Congress has taken an acute interest in a broad range of FDA issues and FDA-regulated products, penning several letters and holding or expressing intent to hold hearings and investigations on various matters. Below is a list of recent congressional activity: On …
The Food and Drug Law Institute is scheduled to hold its 6th Annual Conference on Enforcement and Litigation on February 19-20, 2008. Among other topics of discussion slated for the conference are the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s proposed guidelines that would greatly enhance the criminal penalties …
On January 31, 2008, the New York State Bar Association will hold its annual meeting of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law Section. Some of the topics slated for discussion are the current political and regulatory landscape in the wake of the enactment of the …
Late last week, FDA announced several steps intended to strengthen the advisory committee process. The announced improvements are part of a broader FDA effort to address recommendations made by the Institute of Medicine in its September 2006 report, titled "The Future of Drug Safety: Promoting …
Title VI of the recently-enacted FDA Amendments Act (“FDAAA”) amended the FDC Act to establish a non-profit corporation whose purpose is to advance FDA’s Critical Path Initiative to “modernize medical, veterinary, food, food ingredient, and cosmetic product development, accelerate innovation, and enhance product safety.” (The …
Earlier this year, after the success of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog (and no doubt also due to the success of FDA Law Blog), Secretary Michael Leavitt decided to test the waters of blogdom with his own blog, aptly …
The Department of Health and Human Services’ (“DHHS”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) recently announced its Fiscal Year 2008 Work Plan. The OIG Work Plan, issued annually, sets forth various projects to be addressed during the coming fiscal year by the Office of Counsel to …
Earlier today, Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C. issued its detailed summary and analysis of the recently-enacted FDA Amendments Act (“FDAAA”). A copy of the summary and analysis is available here. FDAAA reauthorizes several user fee and pediatric-related laws, and includes a host of new provisions, …
