By Riëtte van Laack – On August 5, 2015, FDA announced the availability of a guidance document regarding nanomaterials in food for animals. The guidance contains no surprises as it is virtually identical to the draft guidance (based on the docket, it appears that FDA did not …
By Jeffrey K. Shapiro & Jeffrey N. Gibbs – The Office of Combination Products (OCP) was established in 2002 to improve the agency’s handling of combination products and also drug versus device classification decisions. Unfortunately, it has become clear that more needs to be done. FDA’s …
By Alan M. Kirschenbaum – Yesterday, CMS’s final Medicaid Drug Rebate Program rule arrived on the doorstep of OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review under Executive Order 12866. Under the Executive Order, OIRA ordinarily has 90 days to complete its review, with …
By Larry K. Houck – Representatives Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) and Doris Matsui (D-California), members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced legislation in Congress on July 28th that seeks to curb teenage dextromethorphan (“DXM”) abuse by restricting its sale to individuals under 18 years old. …
By Riëtte van Laack – On July 30, FDA announced the publication of a draft guidance titled “FDA’s Policy on Declaring Small Amounts of Nutrients and Dietary Ingredients on Nutrition Labels”. The draft guidance addresses an apparent conflict between FDA’s compliance guidelines and FDA’s rounding rules for nutrition …
It’s that time of year again when we ask our loyal FDA Law Blog readers for just a few minutes of their time. You got it: it’s the best legal blog nomination season! And this year, there are two contests for which we’re seeking your …
By Kurt R. Karst – It’s that time of year again when FDA-regulated companies need to think about cracking open their checkbooks to pay FDA some pretty heft sums of cash for operations in the next fiscal year, and to plan ahead for submissions to …
By Larry K. Houck – A bipartisan group of senators representing Oregon, Colorado and Washington, states that have legalized nonmedical use of marijuana, introduced legislation that would protect financial institutions from adverse action by federal banking regulators for providing services to legal marijuana businesses. The “Marijuana …
By Kurt R. Karst – It’s been almost seven weeks since the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued its Opinion in Veloxis Pharmaceuticals. Inc. v. FDA, ___ F.Supp.3d ___, 2015 WL 3750672 (June 12, 2015), a challenge concerning the scope of 3-year new …
By Jay W. Cormier – On Monday, after seeking input from a number of large industry stakeholders and floating the idea for some time, FDA announced the availability of a Draft Guidance entitled “Request for Quality Metrics.” The Draft Guidance formally presents FDA’s current thinking and intentions …
By Kurt R. Karst – A “phantom” is defined, in part, to mean “an appearance or illusion without material substance, as a dream image, mirage, or optical illusion.” That’s probably the best way to sum up what’s at the heart of the issues raised by FDA …
By Riëtte van Laack – Last week, FDA announced a supplemental proposal to amend the nutrition labeling regulation for food and dietary supplements, and the availability of consumer studies related to FDA’s proposed changes to the format of the Nutrition Facts box. Undoubtedly, the proprosal to establish …
By Ricardo Carvajal - The distinction between the claims “natural” and “made with natural ingredients” is among the issues addressed in a recent NAD decision involving advertising for ASPIRE, a brand of sports drinks promoted as “all natural” and “natural sports drinks.” The drinks include vitamins and citric …
By Kurt R. Karst – Earlier this month, legislation was introduced in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to fund FDA for the next fiscal year: Fiscal Year 2016. Both the Senate bill and the House bill, titled “Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and …
By Alexander J. Varond – In a recent FDA Voice blog post, titled “More Collaboration, Research Needed to Develop Cures,” FDA discusses the speed of drug discovery and development. The blog post also references a white paper released the same day, titled “Targeted Drug Development: Why …
