Daraprim (pyrimethamine) Tablets 25 mg first made news in 2015 when Martin Shkreli (also known as “the most hated man in America” and “Pharma Bro”) was the head of Turing Pharmaceuticals and raised the price of this NDA drug product some 5,000%, from $13.50 a tablet to $750 a tablet. (Shkreli was charged in federal […]
Well, I am back from three weeks of traipsing around South America and ready to hit the blogging trail again. Thanks to all my Lachman colleagues who took up the charge and did a great job in my absence. However, while away, I tried to keep up by reading the trade press when I had […]
The FDA issued its Fiscal Year (FY) GDUFA Science and Research Report last week (read the full report here and the awarded research contracts and grants here). A review of the innovative scientific focus areas helps those of us in the industry to get a sense of where the FDA is headed in support of […]
The use of contract manufacturers for the production of approved drug products has become more and more commonplace, particularly with the steady increase through the years of virtual pharmaceutical companies, a business model where the majority of the drug development and production work is outsourced to third parties as needed. While the use of a […]
The United States Food and Drug Administration and the Indian Government join forces in “Operation Broadsword”. No, it’s not a trailer for an action thriller, it’s a serious collaboration between two governmental entities to limit the import and sale of illicit drugs to consumers, detailed in FDA’s news release on February 18, 2020 (here). The […]
February 14, 2020 could be called a red letter day in the world of Rx-to-OTC switch. After a long period of drought, FDA announced that they have approved the Rx-to-OTC switch of three prescription drugs. Please see the announcement here. The three drugs are: Voltaren Arthritis Pain (diclofenac sodium topical gel, 1%) for the temporary […]
The official OGD stats are out for approval and tentative approval actions, as well as complete response letters issued and receipts of original ANDAs. In January 2020, OGD issued 49 full approval actions, the lowest by far for FY 2020. Of those 49, only one was cited as a first-time approval (I think this might […]
In earlier blogs, we have written about specific technical items related to identity testing. However, a review of Warning Letters published on the US FDA website for the months of December 2019 and January 2020, revealed three Warning Letters citing instances of failures to perform identity testing of active pharmaceutical ingredients prior to the manufacturing […]
The FDA’s Office of Pharmaceutical Quality (OPQ) is the group within the FDA that defines the quality requirements for all human drugs under its umbrella (filed as NDAs, ANDAs, BLAs, 351(k)/Biosimilars, and OTC products). The group issued its 2019 Annual Report just this month (read the full report here) that includes a look back […]
February 3, 2020 was the last day to comment on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) notice in the Federal Register on the Novel Excipient Review Program Proposal; Request for Information and Comments (here), which we reported on in a previous blog post (here). In this notice, the FDA had proposed a pilot program related […]
