This week marks the second anniversary of the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act, a partisan law that ushered in sweeping Medicare price setting reforms. The Biden-Harris Administration is poised to announce the first...more
8/14/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Due Process ,
Fair Price ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Part D ,
Negotiations ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
PHRMA
On June 28, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court overturned the longstanding Chevron doctrine, under which courts generally granted deference to a federal agency’s reasonable interpretation of ambiguous...more
7/9/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Corner Post Inc v Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Government Agencies ,
Healthcare ,
Judicial Authority ,
Life Sciences ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Regulatory Authority ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation
On May 16th, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to initiate the rescheduling of marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. The NPRM, which was published in...more
5/31/2024
/ Classification ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
DEA ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Farm Bill ,
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) ,
Final Rules ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Marijuana ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Schedule I Drugs
Key Points - GLP-1 agonists have ushered in a new era in anti-obesity medication policy considerations against the backdrop of a continued focus by policymakers on both drug access and pricing. CMS has taken steps to clarify...more
5/29/2024
/ Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Modernization Act ,
Medicare Part D ,
National Institute of Health (NIH) ,
Orange Book ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry
On April 29, 2024, the Office of the Federal Register placed on display the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) final rule on the regulation of laboratory developed tests (LDTs). Set to be officially published on May 6, this...more
The upcoming election, and the approaching end of the President’s four-year term, introduce additional dynamics into the agencies’ rulemaking process and even the guidance process. From now through the November election, the...more
4/25/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
GAO ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
HRSA ,
Laboratory Developed Tests ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
NIST ,
Nursing Homes ,
OIG ,
OIRA ,
OMB ,
Payment Systems ,
PHI ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Presidential Elections ,
Proposed Guidance ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Rulemaking Process
In January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) kicked off the year by announcing a much-anticipated proposal to restructure their human foods program (HFP), and the agency has continued to work on the details of...more
On October 3rd, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published its widely anticipated proposed rule on the regulation of laboratory developed tests (LDTs). Last year, Congress failed to pass the Verifying Accurate,...more
Multiple policy documents relating to software and digital health have been issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The documents offer: a framework for the use of digital health tools in the context of drug...more
In recent days, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued multiple policy documents relating to software and digital health. Two of them relate to software-based medical devices: draft guidance for predetermined...more
Are Accelerated Approval Drugs a New Target for Cost Reductions? As outlined in our prior analysis, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included sweeping drug pricing reforms for the Medicare program and the Biden-Harris...more
On January 31, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a proposal to restructure the agency’s human foods program. FDA regulates almost 80 percent of the nation’s food supply and this work is a cornerstone...more
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the conclusion of an internal working group that cannabidiol (CBD) will require a new regulatory pathway. The FDA explicitly denied three citizen petitions urging the...more
In a break with past precedent, last year’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) user fee reauthorization legislation did not contain significant FDA policy changes. Although the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions...more
On September 30, 2022, Congress enacted legislation to reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) user fee programs for branded/reference drugs and biologics, medical devices, generic drugs and biosimilars (PDUFA,...more
FDA Also Issues Report on Software Pre-Cert Pilot, Leaving Unanswered Questions on Future of Software Regulation -
Key Points -
The Final Guidance does not address the FDA’s risk-based enforcement discretion policy...more
On August 23, 2022, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or the “Agency”) published the revised draft guidance “Charging for Investigational Drugs Under an IND Questions and Answers Guidance for Industry” (the...more
Update on UFA Reauthorization Legislation -
As outlined in Akin Gump’s previous analysis, the current five-year authorization of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) user fee programs for branded/reference drugs and...more
There continues to be no shortage of FDA-related issues in front of Congress this summer. In recent days, the pace of Congressional action on reauthorizing FDA’s user fee programs has significantly picked up with the Senate...more
On May 17 the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee released a bipartisan legislative discussion draft of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Safety and Landmark Advancements Act (FDASLA), which...more