By Kurt R. Karst – Last Friday, FDA announced that the Agency licensed the fourth biosimilar biological product under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCIA”): Amgen, Inc.’s (“Amgen’s”) AMJEVITA (adalimumab-atto) (BLA 761024), a biosimilar version of AbbVie Inc.’s (“AbbVie’s”) (BLA 125057) blockbuster …
By Alexander J. Varond – FDA’s rare pediatric disease priority review voucher program is set to expire on October 1. If this happens, FDA will no longer award pediatric vouchers to otherwise eligible sponsors. Expiration of the pediatric voucher program would mean the end (at least …
By Dara Katcher Levy & Jenifer R. Stach – Ten years and two days after FDA issued the proposed rule, the Agency published the final rule – Requirements for Foreign and Domestic Establishment Registration and Listing for Human Drugs, Including Drugs That Are Regulated Under a …
By Kurt R. Karst – What a difference a few precedents can make! In a rather surprising turn of events, Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a Memorandum Opinion last Friday granting a Motion for Reconsideration filed by …
By Kurt R. Karst – Last week, Elliott Associates, L.P., Elliott International, L.P. and Knollwood Investments, L.P. (collectively “Elliott”), a hedge fund with investment interests in Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.’s (“Takeda’s”) gout flare drug COLCRYS (colchicine) Tablets, 0.6 mg (NDA 022352), filed a Petition for Rehearing …
Over the course of roughly the last year, gene editing has gone from being a topic limited to scientific conferences to being featured in the New York Times and on the cover of TIME magazine. Most of the attention has been due to a molecular …
By Anne K. Walsh & Andrew J. Hull – FDA announced in an August 31, 2016 notification (“Notification”) that it will convene a public hearing to address its authority to regulate communications regarding unapproved uses of approved or cleared drugs and medical devices. The public hearing …
By Kurt R. Karst – Orange Book aficionados may have noticed an interesting entry that recently appeared as an addition to the Orange Book. It came out earlier this month with FDA’s publication of the July 2016 Orange Book Cumulative Supplement (page 1-2C), and also with …
By Kurt R. Karst – Q. Why did the chicken cross the road?A. To get to the other side. Q. Why did the turtle cross the road?A. To get to the shell station. Q. Why did the duck cross the road?A. To prove he wasn’t chicken! Q. Why did …
By Kurt R. Karst – Last month, while this blogger was on vacation enjoying the fine beers of Germany during a tour of that country, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a Memorandum Opinion in a rather interesting Hatch-Waxman Patent Term Extension …
In recent years, the level of scrutiny on foreign pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in countries like China and India has skyrocketed—along with the demand and dependence of western countries on the supply of goods coming from those facilities. Furthermore, increased enforcement aimed at the medical …
By Kurt R. Karst – In a Per Curiam Judgment handed down last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s January 2015 ruling upholding FDA’s September 26, 2014 approval of a 505(b)(2) application (NDA …
By Jay W. Cormier – As readers of this blog may recall, FDA observed remarkable conditions at two facilities on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD (see our post here). Then, earlier this year, NIH stated again that it was closing its drug manufacturing facilities (see …
By Karla L. Palmer – FDA announced last week the availability of a draft guidance document titled, “Insanitary Conditions at Compounding Facilities.” This draft is FDA’s first attempt to assist compounding facilities and state regulators in identifying “insanitary conditions so they can implement appropriate corrective actions.” …
A breakthrough paper by Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C’s Frank Sasinowski and Alexander Varond concerning FDA’s Subpart H approvals has just published in the Food and Drug Law Journal. Titled “FDA’s Flexibility in Subpart H Approvals: Assessing Quantum of Effectiveness Evidence,” the paper examines the …
