As we have previously covered, FDA has long been on the receiving end of criticism about its lagging foreign inspection program. The focus of the criticism has been that simply not enough foreign inspections are occurring at all and, when they do, they have historically …
On May 6, 2025, FDA announced that it planned to conduct more surprise inspections at foreign manufacturing facilities that produce foods, essential medicines, and other medical products intended for U.S. consumers. The stated goals are to ensure that “foreign companies will receive the same level …
The American Conference Institute’s popular “FDA Boot Camp” – now in its 43rd iteration – is scheduled to take place from March 19-20, 2025, at the NY Bar Association in New York, NY . The conference is billed as the premier event to provide folks …
The ongoing DOGE-led reductions to the federal workforce and recent sweeping policy changes have spawned many questions for compliance officers and quality managers in FDA-regulated companies. How will the cuts at FDA impact inspections and enforcement? Will there be a heightened appetite for mergers and …
Over the past few days, we’ve been blogging about changes that are sure to come to FDA under Trump 2.0. Calls to more generally gut Federal agencies are everywhere, including from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the current nominee to lead the department of Health and …
FDA recently published a Federal Register (FR) Notice [Docket No. FDA-2024-N-3945] announcing the publication of a draft strategy document, for public comment, outlining specific actions FDA plans to take to facilitate the use of innovative manufacturing technologies. This FR Notice and draft strategy document are part …
While we hope readers of the Blog, as our clients and friends, come out of any FDA inspection with a clean bill of health, we know that based on FDA FY2024 data to date, approximately 40% of inspections of medical device companies end up classified …
FDA’s Office of Pharmaceutical Quality (OPQ) in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) is charged with assuring that drugs marketed in the U.S. are safe, effective, and meet appropriate quality standards. While no office at FDA truly works in a vacuum, we can …
Among FDA-regulated establishments and stakeholders, there is one word that makes everyone go on edge – the dreaded FDA “inspection.” In an effort to clarify for industry and alleviate some of the stress associated with these activities, last week the FDA issued a draft guidance …
CDER’s Office of Pharmaceutical Quality (OPQ) issued its 2023 Annual Report last week, and it’s an upbeat assessment of the Office’s policy and outreach efforts. Last year, OPQ saved a more quantitative analysis of its efforts for the other yearly publication it put out, on …
While Covid is in the rear view for most of us, FDA has had a tough time shaking off the effects of the pandemic on its inspection output. Inspections went down—way down—during the pandemic. In March 2020, FDA temporarily postponed all foreign and domestic and …
The word last week was that FDA is re-organizing the Office of Pharmaceutical Quality (OPQ) within the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). It is the latest item on a long list of similar initiatives that have marked 2023. Those efforts add up to …
We were preparing this blogpost about FDA’s draft guidance on “Remote Interactive Evaluations” when we learned something. A phone call to FDA requested information about the number of Remote Interactive Evaluations (RIEs) that FDA has performed at drug manufacturing facilities since it announced in April …
A drug manufacturer’s bad post-inspection grade from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration – labeled an “Official Action Indicated” classification – is generally devastating for the facility, not least because it can stall FDA approval of applications to market drugs manufactured at the facility. Many …
Please sing to the tune of “Honesty,” by Billy Joel: Nitrosamines, it’s such an ugly word, In pharmaceuticals’ impurity. Nitrosamines are hardly ever good, Now FDA has issued policy. Failure to detect nitrosamines, failure to notify FDA when nitrosamines appear in finished drug products, failure to identify impurities in drugs …
