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  • Prescription Drugs and Biologics

    • FDORA Enacted; HP&M Issues Detailed Summary and AnalysisJanuary 23rd, 2023

      On December 29, 2022, the President signed into law the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act of 2022 (“FDORA”) as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Pub. L. No. 117-328 (2022).  FDORA primarily amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Public …

    • CMS Rolls up its Sleeves on Price Negotiations, Sets Agenda for 2026 Negotiated PricesJanuary 19th, 2023

      Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a memorandum on how it intends to implement the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, passed under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) (see our blog post and slide deck on IRA).  The memorandum also introduced …

    • The PIE Act – A Win for Patients, Payors, and SponsorsJanuary 5th, 2023

      A win for patient access!   Prescription drug and medical device Pre-Approval Information Exchange (PIE) now has specific legal protection allowing for sponsors to proactively communicate to payors certain information about products in development to help expedite patient access upon product approval. The PIE Act, otherwise known …

    • OTAT Town Hall on Cell Therapy CMC – The Recording is Available but Here’s an AppetizerJanuary 4th, 2023

      On December 7, 2022, FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) and the Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies (OTAT) held a town hall to answer questions related to cell therapy and tissue-engineered products chemistry, manufacturing, and contr­­ols (CMC).  The purpose of these town …

    • ACI’s 40th FDA Boot Camp – March 22-23, 2023 (Virtual)January 3rd, 2023

      Hosted by American Conference Institute, the FDA Boot Camp returns for its 40th iteration with the continued intent of providing an essential working knowledge of core FDA concepts, and real-world examples that will help you to excel in your everyday practices. This year’s conference co-chairs include …

    • FDA Finalizes Guidance Re Enforcement Policy for Homeopathic DrugsDecember 16th, 2022

      On December 7, 2022, FDA announced the availability of the final guidance regarding the enforcement policy for homeopathic drug products.  This concludes FDA’s reevaluation of the regulation of homeopathic drugs which it started in 2015. As we reported previously, here, and here, as a result of …

    • “I’m Listening,” Says the PTODecember 15th, 2022

      In the wake of President Biden’s July 2021 Executive Order—Promoting Competition in the American Economy—and the exchange of letters between the Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and FDA, the USPTO announced recently a “public listening session” in collaboration with FDA to seek comments on how …

    • What FDA’s Newest Gene Therapy Approval Tells Us About Durability: How Long is Long Enough?December 8th, 2022

      On November 22, 2022, FDA approved CSL Behring’s BLA for Hemgenix (etranacogene dezaparvovec), an AAV-based gene therapy for the treatment of adults with Hemophilia B who currently use Factor IX prophylaxis therapy, have current or historical life-threatening hemorrhage, or have repeated, serious spontaneous bleeding episodes.  …

    • Is the Listing of REMS Patents in the Orange Book Patently Anticompetitive?November 18th, 2022

      FTC sure thinks so.  And the FTC said as much in a recent Amicus Brief (“Brief”) in paragraph IV litigation between Avadel CNS Pharmaceuticals (“Avadel”) and Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Jazz”).  This type of statement from the FTC is unprecedented; not only is the FTC Brief …

    • FUFRA Enacted; HP&M Issues Detailed Summary and AnalysisNovember 9th, 2022

      On September 30, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023, Division F of which is titled the “FDA User Fee Reauthorization Act of 2022” (“FUFRA”).   In addition to reauthorizing for an additional five fiscal years—Fiscal Years 2023-2027—several …

    • CMS Finalizes Rule on Medicare Part B Discarded Drug RebatesNovember 8th, 2022

      On Friday, November 4, CMS finalized a rule to implement mandatory rebates (called “refunds”) for discarded amounts of separately paid Medicare Part B single-source drugs packaged in single-dose or single-use containers.  For a summary of the rule, we refer readers to our July 2022 post …

    • Avoid CMC Challenges by Thinking Slow, Not Fast-Discussions at USP’s WorkshopNovember 2nd, 2022

      On October 26, 2022, US Pharmacopeia (USP) Biologics Stakeholder Forum held a workshop on “Collaborating to solve CMC challenges and support efficient development of lentiviral-mediated CART cell therapies.”  Panelists discussed CMC challenges for CART therapies, including potency assay development, analytical method transfer, and demonstrating comparability.  …

    • FDA Adds Additional Q&As in the Final CMC Postapproval Changes GuidanceOctober 28th, 2022

      FDA recently published the final guidance document “Comparability Protocols for Postapproval Changes to the Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls Information in an NDA, ANDA, or BLA.”  This final guidance provides recommendations to original applicants and holders of approved applications for human drugs and certain biological products …

    • Read All About it: CDER’s Framework for Regulatory Advanced Manufacturing Evaluation (FRAME) Initiative and its Regulatory Framework for Distributed Manufacturing and Point-of-Care Manufacturing of DrugsOctober 26th, 2022

      During last year’s 2021 Pharmaceutical Quality Symposium, CDER described the development of a regulatory framework called FRAME –Framework for Regulatory Advanced Manufacturing Evaluation, to accommodate innovation expected in the next 5-10 years with a focus on 4 technologies: End to End Manufacturing, Distributed Manufacturing, Point-Of-Care, …

    • RWE There Yet? FDA’s New Pilot Program Seeks to Help Usher in a New Era for Real World EvidenceOctober 24th, 2022

      Making use of real-world data has long been of interest to stakeholders as having tremendous potential value.  These data are routinely collected from a variety of sources, such as electronic health records, providing information on health and healthcare in actual patients, rather than in the …