On June 12th, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 307-97 on final passage of H.R. 1256 – The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill on June 11th with a 79-17 vote. President Obama is expected to sign …
By Susan J. Matthees – Last week, FDA announced a new grant program available to help support the development of new animal drugs to treat minor species or minor disease in major species (horses, dogs, cats, chickens, turkeys, cattle and pig). The Minor Use and Minor …
By Jamie K. Wolszon & Jeffrey N. Wasserstein – The Vermont legislature recently passed S. 48, a bill that would prohibit manufacturers of prescription drug, device, and biologics products from providing certain kinds of gifts or payments to physicians and other health care providers, and …
By Dara Katcher Levy & Roger C. Thies – For the past several years, industry has relied on Warning and Untitled Letters to determine DDMAC’s “current” thinking on the presentation of risk information in various promotional pieces. On May 26, 2009, FDA issued a draft …
By William T. Koustas & Carrie S. Martin – On May 7, 2009, FDA announced that it is requiring both approved testosterone gel products to include boxed warnings on their labels and to implement a REMS. The two products are indicated for testosterone replacement therapy …
By JP Ellison – In a Memorandum to the heads of Executive Departments and Agencies dated May 20, 2009, with the Subject Line “Preemption” (the “May 20, 2009 Memorandum”), President Obama stated that “executive departments and agencies have sometimes announced that their regulations preempt State …
By David B. Clissold – FDA’s meeting guidance “Guidance for Industry: Formal Meetings With Sponsors and Applicants for PDUFA Products” was issued in final form in February 2000. On May 19, 2009, FDA released Revision 1 to that guidance, now entitled “Guidance for Industry: Formal …
By William T. Koustas, Dara Katcher Levy, and John R. Fleder – On April 28, 2009, Smoking Everywhere, Inc. (“SE”) sued FDA to “stop FDA from improperly exceeding its delegated authority by attempting to regulate electronic cigarettes” to the extent that FDA declared such products to …
By Carrie S. Martin – On April 29, 2009, FDA issued a final rule requiring new labeling for over-the-counter (“OTC”) pain relievers and fever reducers, also known as internal analgesic, antipyretic, and anti-rheumatic drug products (“IAAAs”). The rule revises 21 C.F.R. Part 201 to require manufacturers …
By Kurt R. Karst – “Is the Obama Administration Poised to Undo FDA’s Preemption Stance?” We posed this question in a post earlier this year after a pre-publication version of a 96-page final rule concerning new organ-specific warnings and related labeling for Over-The-Counter (“OTC”) Internal …
By Susan J. Matthees – At the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC"), FDA announced last night that it would issue Emergency Use Authorization ("EUA") of flu medicines and diagnostic tests in response to the recent swine flu outbreak. Two antiflu …
By William T. Koustas – Earlier this month, FDA announced that Institutional Review Board (“IRB”) Coast IRB, LLC of Colorado Springs, Colorado (“Coast”) voluntarily agreed to stop reviewing new FDA-regulated studies and halt enrollment of new subjects in ongoing trials after FDA determined it committed …
By Carmelina G. Allis – In June 2008, we reported that the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (“ACCME”) had issued for comment a proposed restrictive paradigm under which commercial support for continuing medical education (“CME”) would be permissible if certain conditions were met. In …
By Christine P. Bump – On April 22, 2009, FDA announced that it sent a letter to the manufacturer of Plan B stating that the Agency would, “upon submission and approval of an appropriate application,” permit the sale of Plan B without a prescription to …
By Carrie S. Martin – As we reported previously, FDA decided to institute a class-wide Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (“REMS”) for 24 different opioid products. FDA held a private meeting on March 3, 2009, with the 16 manufacturers of the opioid products to discuss …
