By Dara K. Levy – The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), which went into effect for FDA-regulated products on June 15, 2016 (after several delays), is an electronic system operated by Customs and intended to automate import processing and expedite reviews for electronic import filings. It replaces …
By Kurt R. Karst – In a 19-page decision handed down earlier this week by Judge Nancy Torresen of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, the court ruled that Maine’s 2013 law, titled “An Act To Facilitate the Personal Importation of Prescription Drugs …
By Allyson B. Mullen – On November 3, 2014, the law firm of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP filed suit on behalf of Plymouth Direct, Inc. (Plymouth) and Natures Pillows, Inc. (NPI) in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against FDA claiming …
By Kurt R. Karst – FDA’s Pre-Launch Activities Importation Request (“PLAIR”) program got a lot of attention last July when the Agency finally announced the issuance of a draft guidance document (Docket No. FDA-2013-D-0836) describing the program. Briefly, the PLAIR program allows, on a case-by-case basis and …
By Kurt R. Karst – On May 29th, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations voted 31-18 during a mark-up session to send to the House floor its version of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015, along …
By Kurt R. Karst – Earlier this week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine came one step closer to a merits ruling in a lawsuit filed last September by two Maine pharmacists, three Maine trade associations (the Maine Pharmacy Association, Maine Society of …
By Dara Katcher Levy – We have long been waiting for a company to sue FDA for failing to issue an export certificate. Unfortunately, we may need to wait a bit longer for a case that will resolve the standards for when FDA must issue an …
By Kurt R. Karst – With primary briefing over (briefs here, here, and here), and a December 13, 2013 Oral Argument before Judges Griffith, Kavanaugh and Randolph concluded, we were waiting with bated breath for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit …
By Dara Katcher Levy – Recently, a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives that would legalize personal importations and re-importations of certain foreign drugs. The Personal Drug Importation Fairness Act of 2013 (H.R. 3715) would allow Americans to buy prescription drugs from certain countries …
By Dara Katcher Levy – We recently became aware of a lawsuit filed against FDA in the Eastern District of New York over the importation of bulk drug product. In this suit, which also names an individual FDA Compliance Officer, the importer argues that FDA’s actions …
By Kurt R. Karst – We were reminded earlier today that a new law has gone into effect in the state of Maine permiting the importation of drug products into the state from licensed retail pharmacies located in certain foreign countries. As we previously reported, …
By Ricardo Carvajal & Kurt R. Karst – According to contingency plans drawn up by the Department of Health and Human Services, 45% of FDA’s nearly 15,000 staff were to be furloughed in the absence of enacted annual appropriations – popularly referred to as a …
By Kurt R. Karst – Earlier this week, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (“PhRMA”), along with several other trade groups – the Maine Pharmacy Association, Maine Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and Retail Association of Maine – and two pharmacists, filed a Complaint and …
By Kurt R. Karst – In a unanimous decision handed down on July 23rd by a 3-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Cook v. FDA (Case No. 12-5176), the Court largely affirmed a March 2012 decision …
By Kurt R. Karst – It was 75 years ago today, on June 25, 1938, that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDC Act”), which replaced the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, 34 Stat. 768, …
