By Kurt R. Karst – In a September 30, 2014 decision, a unanimous panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed an August 2013 decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California finding that a first-in-the-nation …
By Kurt R. Karst – The so-called “drug lag” – i.e., the difference (or perceived difference some might say) in drug availability between the United States and other countries – was one of myriad reasons some folks back in the early 1990s thought it was necessary …
By Kurt R. Karst – On May 29th, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations voted 31-18 during a mark-up session to send to the House floor its version of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015, along …
By Kurt R. Karst – We’re not sure if it was merely the passage of time or something else that relieved the constipation, but FDA has finally acted on an October 24, 2008 Notice for an Opportunity for Hearing (Docket No. FDA-2008-N-0549) proposing to withdraw approval …
By Riëtte van Laack – On March 13, 2014, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield (R-KY) introduced the “Sunscreen Innovation Act” (S. 2141 and H.R. 4250, respectively). The proposed legislation would amend the FDC Act to include a process for the review …
By Riëtte van Laack – Last week, FDA announced the long awaited proposal for revisions to the regulations (here and here) for the format and mandatory information included in the Nutrition Facts Box (“NFB”) and the Supplement Facts Box (“SFB”), and for the calculation of the …
By Riëtte van Laack – The Over-the-Counter (“OTC”) drug regulatory framework was established by FDA more than 40 years ago in the OTC Drug Review. The procedure was intended to lead to a monograph which described the active ingredients and conditions that are generally recognized as …
By Kurt R. Karst – Even before FDA gave up an appeal of Judge Edward R. Korman’s April 2013 Judgment and Order that Teva Branded Pharmaceutical Products R&D, Inc.’s (“Teva’s”) PLAN B One-Step (levonorgestrel) Tablets, 1.5 mg (“PBOS”), be made available Over-the-Counter (“OTC”) without age or …
By Riëtte van Laack – On December 17, FDA published a proposal to amend the 1994 tentative final monograph (“TFM”) for OTC topical antimicrobial drug products, which addressed antiseptic healthcare products. The proposed rule concerns consumer antiseptic products intended for use with water, referred to as …
By Kurt R. Karst – In a recent Complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington (at Seattle), several trade groups – the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (“PhRMA”), the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (“GPhA”), the Biotechnology Industry Organization (“BIO”), and …
By Kurt R. Karst – After more than three years of litigation that started with a July 2010 Complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (see our previous post here), and that went up to the U.S. Court of …
By Kurt R. Karst – Earlier this week, sanofi-aventis U.S., LLC (“Sanofi”) filed a Complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against FDA in what appears to be a first-of-its-kind lawsuit. Sanofi alleges that FDA’s decision to make public a copy of …
By Ricardo Carvajal & Kurt R. Karst – According to contingency plans drawn up by the Department of Health and Human Services, 45% of FDA’s nearly 15,000 staff were to be furloughed in the absence of enacted annual appropriations – popularly referred to as a …
By Kurt R. Karst – Last week, Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an 11-page ruling in a lawsuit filed in December 2012 by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (“PhRMA”), the Biotechnology Industry Organization (“BIO”), and …
By Kurt R. Karst – Earlier this year, FDA’s Dallas District Office issued a Warning Letter to Sovereign Pharmaceuticals, LLC (“Sovereign”), a pharmaceutical contract manufacturing facility located in Fort Worth, Texas, containing a rather interesting – and quite perplexing – violation tagged under the heading “Unapproved …
