Generics

IntelGenx Corporation of Saint Laurent, Quebec, Canada submitted petition FDA-2013-P-1058 (here) on August 22, 2013, asking the FDA to designate its Rizatriptan Oral Film product as AB rated (or therapeutically equivalent [TE]) when approved to Maxalt-MLT Orally Disintegrating Tablets, the reference listed drug (RLD) cited in its 505(b)(2) application. The fact that the two products might perform similarly does not overcome the fact that the products are different dosage forms.

Since December 22, 2007, the Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act has required that serious adverse event information be reported to FDA for dietary supplements and OTC drugs not approved through a new drug application. There are many questions that can come up as soon as you dig a little deeper into what is required. Some answers will be provided here, but these are meant only to call attention to the potential complexity and depth of these requirements.

Today, the FDA released Revision 1 to the Draft Guidance to Industry: Generic Drug User Fee Amendment of 2012: Questions and Answers. This 36 page document contains additional questions and answers (as well as clarifications) to some of the issues raised in the original draft guidance issued on August 22, 2012.

The FDA has announced on the Federal Register (FR) prepublication page the availability (tomorrow) and publication of two documents that will be of significant interest to the industry.

Today the FDA issued the long awaited Guidance to Industry: ANDAs Stability of Drug Substances and Drug Products in draft answering questions the public submitted relative to the final ANDA stability guidance document issued September 25, 2012.

Collecting information about mean and median approval times for abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) is very difficult, time consuming and frustrating. We looked at the 31 approvals in June 2013 to see how the Office of Generic Drugs (OGD) was doing.

In a safety communication late yesterday, the FDA warned the public about the potential for acetaminophen to cause a rare, potentially fatal skin condition called Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), toxic epidermal necrosis (TENS) and acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP). The Agency discovered this through evaluation of the literature and a search of its Adverse Events Database.