By Kurt R. Karst – Within moments of FDA’s (Dr. Janet Woodcock) announcement during the February 9th House Energy and Commerce hearing on generic drug and biosimilar user fees that the Agency would issue draft guidance on biosimilar product development later in the day, Twitter was, …
By Kurt R. Karst – In music, “coda” is a term used primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece (or a movement, which may be part of a symphony – an extended musical composition) to an end – the “fine.” A coda can be …
By Kurt R. Karst – It’s about that time of year again when we do some number crunching and take stock of the year that was in orphan drug designations and approvals. And what a year it was! FDA not only approved a record 26 marketing …
By Kurt R. Karst – On February 7, 2012, Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued her decision in the long-running dispute concerning FDA’s July 23, 2010 approval of Sandoz Inc.’s (“Sandoz’s”) ANDA No. 077857 for a generic version …
By Kurt R. Karst – Earlier this week, Representatives John Carney (D-DE) and Larry Bucshon (R-IN) introduced H.R.3839, the “Drug Shortage Prevention Act,” which, according to its sponsors, is intended to bring “more efficiency to the manufacturing and distribution processes” and to require “FDA to …
By Kurt R. Karst – A new report released by the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”), titled “Antibiotics: FDA Needs to Do More to Ensure That Drug Labels Contain Up-to-Date Information,” says that since the September 27, 2007 enactment of the FDA Amendments Act (“FDAAA”) FDA has …
By Kurt R. Karst – The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) has been sued once again after denying a Patent Term Extension (“PTE”) request. The latest case in a long line of lawsuits concerns U.S. Patent No. 5,206,248 (“the ‘248 patent”), which is listed in …
By Kurt R. Karst – In a recent Hatch-Waxman decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division), the court denied Plaintiffs’ Seattle Children’s Hospital, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc., and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (collectively “Novartis”) Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit …
By Kurt R. Karst – It’s absolutely amazing how, after nearly 28 years, the 1984 Hatch-Waxman Amendments continue to provide surprises. Consider the latest example we came upon recently (with a little help) involving PRISTIQ (desvenlafaxine) Extended-Release Tablets. FDA approved PRISTIQ under NDA No. 021992 in a …
Pharmaceutical and medical device applicants faced with an adverse decision from FDA (e.g., regarding data requirements, study design, or regulatory pathway) may dispute that decision through multiple routes. The appeal processes in both CDER and CDRH offer numerous strategic and procedural advantages that, when used …
The American Conference Institute will be holding its FDA Boot Camp conference in New York City from Tuesday, March 20 to Wednesday, March 21, 2012. A copy of the conference program can be obtained here. Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C.’s Kurt R. Karst will be …
By Kurt R. Karst – Last week, FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. announced that the Agency sent to Congress packages for three user fee programs, including proposed statutory language for the fifth iteration of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (“PDUFA V”), and two new …
By Kurt R. Karst – FDA recently denied a 2008 citizen petition (Docket No. FDA-2008-P-0291) requesting that the Agency amend its drug label regulations to require that product labels include the Orange Book-listed NDA number under which the product is approved. According to the petition, “[i]ncreasingly, …
By Kurt R. Karst – In what appears to be a further sign of FDA’s efforts to clamp down on differences between brand-name Reference Listed Drugs (“RLDs”) and their proposed generic counterparts, FDA’s Office of Generic Drugs (“OGD”) is now looking more closely at tablet size …
By Kurt R. Karst – Representatives Cliff Stearns (R-FL) and Ed Towns (D-NY) recently introduced H.R. 3737, the Unlocking Lifesaving Treatments for Rare-Diseases Act (“ULTRA”). The bill would amend the FDC Act to “improve access to the existing accelerated approval pathway for patients with life threatening …
