FDA is exercising significant emergency authorities during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Not all of industry is affected, but those who are manufacturing or distributing (or using) devices being used to fight the pandemic can benefit by understanding FDA’s emergency‑related policies and practices. These are evolving every …
For the past two years, FDA has been working to improve the 510(k) Third Party Review Program. This program is meant to delegate the review of certain 510(k) submissions, freeing FDA’s limited resources to focus on the review of more complex devices and those that …
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on day-to-day life for all of us in an attempt to “flatten the curve” to slow transmission of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). However, for those of us involved in the development of medical products, quarantines, site closures, travel …
A month ago, we blogged on FDA’s emerging strategy of granting Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for devices, drugs, and biologics that can be used to combat the spread of COVID‑19. Since then, FDA has begun granting EUAs, with more in the pipeline. In addition, the …
In a recent decision out of the Seventh Circuit, Antrim Pharms. Llc. v. Bio-Pharm, Inc., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 4772* (7th Cir. 2020), the court decided a battle of the experts: Bio-Pharm prevailed after Antrim unsuccessfully argued the court should preclude testimony by Bio-Pharm’s expert, HP&M’s …
Last month, former Theranos executives, Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani, convinced U.S. District Judge Davila to throw out criminal fraud charges, while denying other defense motions (see Judge Davila’s order here). The charges allege the pair misled patients on the basis that the government can’t …
Last week, FDA once again changed course in its approach towards regulating pharmacogenomic (PGx) tests. We have blogged on this story several times before (see past blog posts here and here). A brief recap follows. On October 31, 2018, FDA issued a Safety Communication regarding PGx …
CDRH has made commitments to stakeholders about completing reviews in a timely manner. For the fiscal year (FY) 2019, though, FDA acknowledged that it missed review-time goals for evaluating product recalls and Medical Device Reports (MDRs). FDA reviewed and classified recalls in a timely fashion …
Genetics and genomics are becoming crucial to clinical care. As the “precision medicine” revolution spreads, cancer treatment, rare disease diagnosis, and cardiac care increasingly utilize genomics. Unfortunately, law and policy lag behind science, and the law governing genomics remains unclear – which means the time …
The FDA is taking very seriously the threat of the coronavirus from China (2019‑nCoV). Makers of medical devices, drugs and biologics should consider whether their products can contribute to countering this threat. In late January, FDA announced its strategy to advance development of medical countermeasures to …
Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C. (“HP&M”) is pleased to announce that Richard Lewis has become its newest Senior Regulatory Device & Biologics Expert. Coming to us after more than 4 years at FDA, Richard worked in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) and …
Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C. is pleased to publish the first FDA Law Alert of the new year. This is the fourth installment of our quarterly newsletter highlighting key postings from our nationally acclaimed FDA Law Blog. Please subscribe to the FDA Law Blog to …
About eighteen months ago, the government accused former Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and former Theranos president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani of wire fraud and conspiracy, a scheme that fooled investors into providing more than $700 million to the then-promising blood-testing startup. In the latest development in US …
Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, FDA is authorized to hold advisory panel meetings for premarket approval applications (PMAs). While FDA originally had to hold a panel meeting for all PMAs pursuant to the Medical Device Amendments of 1976, Congress liberalized the law …
Over the years, we have blogged many times on FDA’s approach towards laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) (see, e.g., prior posts here, here, here, here, and here). On October 31, 2018, FDA issued a Safety Communication relating to one particular type of LDT: pharmacogenomic (PGx) assays. On …
