Developing drugs for kids with rare diseases is important work. If you would like to hear from one of these kids, check out this video: “My Philosophy for a Happy Life,” by the late Sam Berns. Offering priority review vouchers to sponsors that develop new drugs …
As we have previously reported (see here, here, and here) four states (Vermont, Colorado, Florida, and Maine) have passed laws to establish drug importation programs. Reversing long-standing policy, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 that HHS …
The American Conference Institute’s (“ACI’s”) popular “FDA Boot Camp” – now in its 34th iteration – is scheduled to take place from September 18-19, 2019 at The Bostonian Hotel, Boston, MA. The conference is billed as the premier event to provide folks with a roadmap …
On July 8, 2019, U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta struck down a recently finalized Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rulethat would have required drug pricing disclosures to be included in television advertisements for certain prescription drugs and biological products (the “Price …
While the federal government continues to debate the hot topic of drug prices, states continue to pass new laws designed to tackle drug pricing, price reporting, and discounting. We’ve previously reported on the laws passed in California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Vermont …
Last week, Global Genes, a global rare disease patient advocacy organization, announced the 2019 RARE Champion of Hope Awardees, which included Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C.’s very own, James Valentine. This is a great honor, bestowed upon “true champions for rare disease”, “people who inspire …
In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed and remanded the lower courts’ decision to publicly disclose commercial information that previously had been submitted to the government. Given that FDA-regulated entities often submit to FDA commercial or financial information that those entities regard as …
The pharmaceutical industry has filed a lawsuit challenging a recently finalized rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) which requires drug pricing disclosures in television advertisements for certain prescription drugs and biological products (the Final Rule). In an effort to block the …
The government lost a significant battle in its aggressive prosecutions of individuals involved in the New England Compounding Center (NECC) disaster, in which the vilified, and now-defunct, NECC “compounded” contaminated batches of drugs that led to a multitude of deaths and injuries. Gregory Conigliaro, a …
The Paragraph IV certification list on FDA’s website is a very useful tool for generic drug manufacturers in evaluating the potential for 180 day exclusivity for any given product. The list generally describes drug products for which one or more substantially complete ANDA containing a paragraph …
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a guidance document that intends to “help small businesses better understand and comply” with the Agency’s Section 503A bulk substances final rule, issued February 19, 2019. The final rule establishes FDA’s criteria for evaluating nominated bulk …
That quote from “the Dude” from one of the final scenes of the 1998 film The Big Lebowski sums up well where things stand—or should we say “cannot stand, man”—insofar as drug pricing legislation, and, in particular, the Bringing Low-cost Options and Competition while Keeping …
On April 29, 2019, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) convened a public meeting entitled “Patient Perspectives on the Impact of Rare Diseases: Bridging the Commonalities.” This meeting was attended by people with rare diseases, their caregivers and family members, patient advocates, industry representatives and …
On May 24, 2019, FDA approved Avexis’s BLA for its gene therapy, Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi), for treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). This represents the first approval of a systemically-administered somatic gene replacement therapy. (The first gene therapy approved by FDA was Luxturna in Dec. …
In a document as interesting for the “why” as the “what,” the Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel (“OLC”) recently issued a memorandum legal opinion concerning “Whether the Food and Drug Administration Has Jurisdiction over Articles Intended for Use in Lawful Executions.” The issuance of …
