I am saddened to report that on Saturday January 4, 2020 my (our) good friend Don Hare passed away peacefully after a brief illness. When I heard the news, my heart broke. For those of us in the FDA or in the drug industry, he stood as a man among men and will be sorely […]
The Agency issued two warnings today, one about a recall due to a drug-strength labeling error for Mirtazapine and the other regarding a potential serious adverse event, breathing difficulties, associated with the use of gabapentinoids. It appears that there was a label mix-up with a single lot of Mirtazapine and “Aurobindo Pharma USA, Inc. is […]
With the first quarter of FY 2020 in the rearview mirror, a review of the FDA’s All Approvals list (here) and the FDA’s Recent New and Generic Approvals list (here) looks like the new monthly normal for full approval actions will likely be close to sixty per month with about an additional ten tentative approval […]
The Q&A document addresses a number of frequently asked questions about the Pre-Launch Activities Importation Request (PLAIR) process, and when you can or cannot use a PLAIR for importing unapproved drug product into the United States. Quite interestingly, there are quite a few answers of “no” to the FAQs, which likely demonstrates that firms have […]
Each year at holiday time, we try to provide a little levity in some of our blog posts, as well as spread some good cheer. So here you go – love it or not – we fully expect this to be sung outside Building 31 in Bethesda on the evening of December 24th. To the […]
Today’s prepublication of the Federal Register contains the proposed rule for drug importation from Canada. The proposed rule is 172 pages long and outlines the FDA expectations for the safe importation of drug products from Canada. Section 804 Importation Programs (SIPs) provides the basis for each request for importation and provides the importation requirements. The […]
Without much fanfare, on November 11, 2019, OGD approved the first generic vaginal contraceptive ring. Amneal’s approval showed up today on the Drug@FDA, FDA approved drugs list. It is a therapeutic equivalent to Nuvaring by Organon/Merck. Given the ANDA number, it appears that the application was submitted about early to mid-2018, which by all standards […]
Tomorrow, the FDA will issue a final rule (see prepublication document here) very similar to its proposed rule published in the Federal Register on September 12, 2018. The notice states “[I]n this final rule, FDA repeals the irradiation regulation, which provided that any drug sterilized by irradiation was a new drug. OTC drugs marketed pursuant to […]
Based on our post previewing the November totals, there were some late added approvals that did not initially show up on the Agency approval databases. We reported 49 full approval actions and 8 tentative approval actions on December 3rd. With the release of the official November numbers (here), OGD issued 59 full approval actions and […]
In a blog post, Kurt Karst (Hyman, Phelps, and McNamara) addressed at least one very significant issue the proposed Blocking Act of 2019 could have (here). Many believe that the change from the current legislative language may erode the value of 180-day exclusivity and, in the long run, could lead to higher drug prices. The […]
