The International Conference on Drug Development (“ICD2”), formerly known as the International Industrial Pharmacy Conference, continues its annual tradition of offering an informal forum for the exchange of ideas concerning the drug discovery and development process. The 2012 conference, which is presented by The University …
By Kurt R. Karst – Almost a year after having notified Genentech of a proposal to withdraw the approval of Avastin® (bevacizumab) for use with paclitaxel for the treatment of patients who have not received chemotherapy for metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer, and almost five months after …
By Kurt R. Karst – Less than a month before the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Oral Argument in Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Ltd. v. Novo Nordisk A/S, Docket No. No. 10-844 (see here and here), concerning whether the patent delisting counterclaim provisions at FDC …
By Kurt R. Karst – On November 16th, Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), David Vitter (R-LA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) announced the introduction of the Fair And Immediate Release of Generic Drugs Act, or the “FAIR GENERxICS Act,” a draft version of which is …
By Kurt R. Karst – In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Florida-based Hill Dermaceuticals, Inc. (“Hill”) is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief after FDA approved, on October 17, 2011, three ANDAs submitted by Identi Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Identi”) – …
By Kurt R. Karst – Politico recently published an opinion piece authored by Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Chairman Jon Leibowitz, who is up for reappointment for a second term on the Commission, in which he stated he wanted to throw in his “two cents” on how …
By Kurt R. Karst – On November 15th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will hear oral argument in Medicines Co. V. Kappos et al., Case No. 2010-1534, perhaps starting (or ending) another chapter in the saga over a Patent Term Extension (“PTE”) …
By Kurt R. Karst – The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey recently granted a Motion to Dismiss filed by Pfizer, Inc. (“Pfizer”) in an action brought by Impax Laboratories, Inc. (“Impax”) in an apparent attempt to trigger a forfeiture of 180-day exclusivity …
By Kurt R. Karst – For a few weeks now we’ve been hearing rumors that once the ball gets rolling in Congress with legislation to reauthorize the various user fee statutes (e.g., the Prescription Drug User Fee Act and the Medical Device User Fee and Modernization …
By Kurt R. Karst – In a decision handed down late last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, a three-judge panel affirmed a November 2010 decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming granting FDA’s Motion to Dismiss …
By Jennifer M. Thomas – President Obama issued an Executive Order earlier this week to address the growing issue of critical drug shortages – the first Executive Order to directly affect FDA operations since 1985. In a coordinated move, FDA also released its report: "A Review …
By Kurt R. Karst – Earlier this week, the U.S. Senate passed, by a 69-30 vote, H.R. 2112, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012, as part of an omnibus package of three spending measures. The House and Senate …
By Kurt R. Karst – In a 53-page decision handed down earlier this week by the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District (Division I), the Court ruled that patent settlement agreements between Bayer AG and several generic drug manufacturers did not violate the Cartwright Act …
By Kurt R. Karst – The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) recently indicated in a letter to FDA that U.S. Patent No. RE 41,571 (“the ‘571 patent”), a method-of-use patent listed in the Orange Book covering BUTRANS (buprenorphine) Transdermal System is not eligible for a …
By Kurt R. Karst – Like the character Michael Keaton plays in the 1988 film “Beetlejuice,” in which spirit (a “bio-exorcist”) comes back from the afterlife (after having his name said three times) to wreak havoc and to try and scare away the new inhabitants of …
