By Jessica A. Ritsick & William T. Koustas – At this year’s Health Care Distribution Management Association (HDMA) annual track-and-trace conference, most minds were focused on one thing: the potential passage of H.R. 3204, the Drug Quality and Security Act, which would mandate a uniform, national, interoperable electronic …
By Jennifer M. Thomas – The generic drug industry has waited with bated breath since, as we reported here and here, FDA signaled that it was “considering a regulatory change that would allow generic manufacturers, like brand-name manufacturers, to change their labeling in appropriate circumstances.” See …
An article published in the current edition of Regulatory Focus, the flagship publication of the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS), and authored by Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C.’s Alexander J. Varond discusses the recent trends and developments in personalized medicine, including FDA’s current thinking and …
By Jennifer M. Thomas – I have monitored the drug shortage issue over the last few years with professional interest and general concern (see here). However, the situation was recently brought home to me when I took my four-month old in for her second round of …
By Kurt R. Karst – The forces backing implementation of an FDA policy under which biosimilar biological products, 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”), and their …
By Kurt R. Karst – The Generic Pharmaceutical Association (“GPhA”) held its annual Fall Technical Conference this week. There were lots of interesting topics on the conference agenda, such as complex drugs, ANDA filing and refuse-to-receive issues (see the recent FDA guidance here), adverse event …
By Delia A. Stubbs – The amount of government activity on issues involving controlled substances last week makes the furlough seem like a figment of our imagination. Following issuance of a press release on hydrocodone rescheduling and a court ruling on DEA’s delay on the scheduling …
By Kurt R. Karst – In a decision handed down on September 30, 2013 (but not unsealed until last Friday), the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rebuffed a challenge by Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Cumberland”) to FDA’s approval of a generic version of Cumberland’s acetaminophen …
By Kurt R. Karst – Now that the shutdown of the U.S. Federal Government is over and FDA’s Dockets Management Branch is open again, the backlog of docket submissions is rolling in on regulations.gov, including Citizen Petiton responses issued during the shutdown. One petition response …
By Kurt R. Karst – FDA’s recent response to two Citizen Petitions (Docket Nos. FDA-2013-P-0995 and FDA-2011-P-0869) helped to shed some additional light on an issue that continues to vex companies considering submitting a 505(b)(2) NDA to FDA for a new drug: When do I …
By Kurt R. Karst – We’ve previously noted the resurgence of interest in (and controversy over) brand-side exclusivity. There’s the QI Program Supplemental Funding Act of 2008 (Pub. L. No. 110-379), which gave new life to “old” antibiotics. FDC Act § 505(u), titled “Certain Drugs …
By Kurt R. Karst – On October 12th, California Governor Jerry Brown finally acted on Senate Bill 598, vetoing the measure. If enacted, the bill would have amended California’s Pharmacy Law to require, among other things, a pharmacy to notify a prescriber within 5 business days whether …
By Kurt R. Karst – We were reminded earlier today that a new law has gone into effect in the state of Maine permiting the importation of drug products into the state from licensed retail pharmacies located in certain foreign countries. As we previously reported, …
By Kurt R. Karst – We’re now entering the second week of the shutdown of the federal government (or “the lapse period” as some have called it), and there does not appear to be an end in sight. In fact, the environment in Washington, D.C. has …
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 …
