By Karla L. Palmer – FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., sent open letters (here and here) to “Hospital Purchasers” and state officials including governors, state boards of pharmacy and health departments, informing them of the passage of the Drug Quality and Security Act (Public Law 113-54,127 …
By Kurt R. Karst – Sandoz Inc. (“Sandoz”) is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Docket No. 14-1693) a November 2013 decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granting Amgen Inc.’s (“Amgen’s”) and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.’s …
By Kurt R. Karst – Last week, in an unusual move, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit waded into non-patent territory when the Court issued its decision in Allergan, Inc. v. Athena Cosmetics, Inc. (Case No. 2013-1286), a consolidated appeal of several decisions …
By Kurt R. Karst – In a recent memorandum to Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (“CDER”) staff (reprinted below, and a condensed version of which was posted on FDA’s website, here), CDER Director Janet Woodcock, M.D. announced that the Department of Health and Human Services …
By Kurt R. Karst – There’s a hot debate brewing over whether or not a biosimilar biological product licensed under Section 351(k) of the Public Health Service Act (“PHS Act”), as added by the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCIA”), should share the …
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By Kurt R. Karst – Last week, FDA announced the issuance of a long-anticipated draft guidance document, titled “Size, Shape, and Other Physical Attributes of Generic Tablets and Capsules,” providing details on acceptable physical attribute differences between generic drugs and their NDA Reference Listed Drug (“RLD) …
By Kurt R. Karst – On December 12th, a group of bipartisan lawmakers led by Representatives Phil Gingrey (R-GA) and Gene Green (D-TX) introduced H.R. 3742, the Antibiotic Development to Advance Patient Treatment Act of 2013 (“ADAPT Act”). If enacted, the ADAPT Act would, among other …
By Kurt R. Karst – Congress has been silent on new legislation addressing drug patent settlement agreements (aka “reverse payment agreements” or “pay-for-delay agreements”) since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its June 2013 opinion in Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis, Inc., 570 U.S. ___ (2013). As …
By Jennifer M. Thomas – To the extent that Plaintiffs, or interested observers, hoped the District Court for the District of Columbia would seize an opportunity to take FDA to task for failing to prevent or stop drug shortages, they were disappointed by Judge Howell’s Thanksgiving …
By Kurt R. Karst – Our hopes that FDA might publish a proposed rule to implement at least some of the changes made to the Hatch-Waxman Amendments to the FDC Act by the Medicare Modernization Act (“MMA”), enacted on December 8, 2003, before the 10-year anniversary …
By Kurt R. Karst – A Complaint recently filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (“Otsuka”) against Par Pharmaceutical, Inc. (“Par”) concerning notice of a Paragraph IV certification contained in an ANDA Par submitted to FDA for …
By Kurt R. Karst – Earlier this week, Representative Robert Hurt (R-VA) introduced new legislation – H.R. 3631, the Small Manufacturer Protection Act of 2013 – that, if enacted, would bring relief to some companies that are required to pay user fees under the Generic Drug …
By Douglas B. Farquhar – Well, that certainly didn’t take long. FDA has clearly been eager to initiate its new, clarified powers over compounding pharmacies. President Obama only signed the new act (the Drug Quality and Security Act) the day before Thanksgiving, and this morning we find …
By Kurt R. Karst – The number of citizen petitions pending at FDA concerning Hatch-Waxman exclusivity continues to pile up. As we previously reported (here and here), FDA has already been asked on three separate occasions in 2013 to recognize 5-year New Chemical Entity (“NCE”) exclusivity …
