By James E. Valentine – Last month, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the independent, nonpartisan agency that provides auditing, evaluation, and investigative services to Congress, publicly released the findings of a report on FDA’s handling of drug postmarket safety oversight. As reflected in the title of the …
By Kurt R. Karst – Question: When was the first time FDA approved an ANDA containing a Paragraph IV certification to a patent listed in the Orange Book for DIPRIVAN (propofol) Injection, 10 mg/mL, approved under NDA 019627, and granted a period of 180-day exclusivity? Buehler, Buehler? If …
By Mark I. Schwartz – [1] According to our calculations, 2015 was a banner year, from CDER’s perspective, for foreign drug facilities receiving cGMP Warning Letters citing data integrity issues. While the overall number of cGMP Warning Letters issued by CDER was only 23 (compared, for …
By Kurt R. Karst – We love precedents – particularly unusual precedents that are wrapped up in drug approval histories. A couple of years ago we learned about a new precedent concerning the “date of approval” of a drug product. That term is defined in an …
By Kurt R. Karst – Now that the dust from 2015 has settled, we’re able to take a look at and evaluate the year that was in orphan drug designations and approvals. Our annual review has become quite popular. We often see the numbers we provide …
In November 2013, the Drug Quality and Security Act (“DQSA”) was signed into law in an effort to increase the quality of the United States drug supply. The law contains two separate acts: the Compounding Quality Act (Title I), and the Drug Supply Chain Security …
By Kurt R. Karst – The ink from President Obama’s signature on Public Law No. 114-89, the “Improving Regulatory Transparency for New Medical Therapies Act” (or “IRTNMTA”), was hardly dry when the company that led the charge to change the law, Eisai Inc. (“Eisai”), asked the …
By Kurt R. Karst – Those folks who have been following this blog for several years have a good sense about the depths of this blogger’s passion for the Orange Book. There’s the license plate (“ORNGBUK”), the trip to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro with the …
By Kurt R. Karst – Whether in the context of asserting First Amendment protection for a pharmaceutical manufacturer’s off-label promotion of an otherwise approved drug (see our previous post here), or challenging FDA’s denial of New Chemical Entity (“NCE”) exclusivity for VASCEPA (icosapent ethyl) Capsules (NDA …
By Kurt R. Karst – Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced the issuance of the Bureau of Competition’s annual summary of agreements filed with the Commission during the last fiscal year (Fiscal Year 2014) – Agreements Filed with the Federal Trade Commission under the Medicare …
By James E. Valentine – On January 13, 2015, CDER’s Clinical Outcome Assessments Staff (formerly Study Endpoints and Labeling Development (SEALD)) announced the launch of Stage 1, or the pilot stage, of its Clinical Outcomes Assessment (COA) Compendium. A COA measures patients’ symptoms, overall mental state, or …
By Kurt R. Karst – A few months have passed since the appeals Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. (“Takeda”) and Elliott Associates, L.P., Elliott International, L.P. and Knollwood Investments, L.P. (collectively “Elliott”) filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after …
By Riëtte van Laack – On December 23, 2015, FDA issued a proposed rule amending the regulations for prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) fixed-combination products, co-packaged drugs, and combinations of active ingredients under consideration for inclusion in an OTC monograph. The 20-page proposal is intended to harmonize …
By Alexander J. Varond – On December 18, Congress extended the rare pediatric disease priority review voucher (pediatric PRV) program out to September 30, 2016. The extension was granted as part of Congress’s budget deal. Although modest, it has been welcomed by industry. Many hope, however, …
By Kurt R. Karst – The once nascent biosimilars industry took off in 2015 with the first biosimilar approval (ZARXIO [filgrastim-sndz], which FDA licensed on March 6, 2015 under BLA 125553), myriad court decisions interpreting the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCIA”) (see …
