In an unexpected twist to a troubling situation that began over two years ago, U.S. Special Counsel Henry Kerner penned a letter to President Biden on March 31, 2021 questioning the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s)...more
In addition to the incredible work of agency scientists and reviewers to get the first COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in December (as we covered in Part 2 of our year-end post), the Food and Drug...more
12/28/2020
/ Biologics ,
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDA Warning Letters ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Over The Counter Drugs (OTC) ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Vaccinations
Following up on our colleagues’ post earlier this month covering the Food and Drug Administration’s 2020 device law and policy activities, this post will explore prescription drug and biologic law and policy developments over...more
12/22/2020
/ Biologics ,
CDRH ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) ,
FDA Warning Letters ,
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Life Sciences ,
Pharmaceutical Industry
As we discussed in our last update on the Food and Drug Administration’s Comprehensive Regenerative Medicine Policy Framework back in December 2019 (during the much simpler, pre-COVID-19 world), this coming November will...more
Continuing progress on the initiatives announced in its Biosimilars Action Plan in July 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released information about several important biosimilar-related actions on February 3, 2020....more
2/5/2020
/ Biologics ,
Biosimilars ,
Competition ,
Draft Guidance ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Joint Statements ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Public Health ,
Public Workshops
Over the past month or so, our Health Care Team has published a number of posts examining important developments and trends in health law and policy during 2019, as well as providing some thoughts on what we expect to see in...more
1/27/2020
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Biologics ,
Drug Pricing ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Healthcare Reform ,
OCR ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Stark Law
Out of a sample of 29 non-representative drug manufacturers surveyed earlier this year, 23 had publicly posted policies related to accessing their investigational drugs outside of the context of formal clinical trials,...more
9/17/2019
/ 21st Century Cures Act ,
Biologics ,
Biopharmaceutical ,
Drug Testing ,
FDA Reauthorization Act ,
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
GAO ,
Institutional Review Board (IRB) ,
Investigational New Drug Application (IND) ,
Life Sciences ,
OMB ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Right to Try
On May 10, 2019, the Food and Drug Administration issued highly anticipated final guidance that gives drug-makers more clarity on how to demonstrate that a proposed biosimilar product meets the statutory interchangeability...more
In a highly anticipated step, which had been teased by agency leadership in their public appearances over the past several months, FDA released a series of draft guidance documents pertaining to the development and approval...more
Yesterday we started off our year-end series of blog posts with the first part of a review of FDA’s actions for 2017 in the therapeutic products space. Part 1 recapped Commissioner Gottlieb’s initiative to tackle drug...more
12/20/2017
/ 21st Century Cures Act ,
Biologics ,
Data Integrity ,
DQSA ,
FDA Approval ,
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Imports ,
Manufacturers ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Warning Letters
As is the tradition here at Health Law & Policy Matters, towards the end of the year we take stock of what transpired in our respective industries and highlight important legal, regulatory, and business developments. For...more
12/19/2017
/ 21st Century Cures Act ,
Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) ,
aBLA ,
Biologics ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
FDA Approval ,
FDARA ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Generic Drugs ,
Medical Devices ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Public Comment
On a sweltering hot D.C. morning, those of us anxiously awaiting the Supreme Court’s opinion in its first case involving biosimilar biological products finally exhaled. The June 12, 2017 opinion followed the parties’ oral...more
6/16/2017
/ Amgen ,
Biologics ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
Commercial Marketing ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
FDA Approval ,
Generic Drugs ,
IP License ,
Notice Requirements ,
Patent Dance ,
Patent Infringement ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Pharmacies ,
Preemption ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Sandoz ,
Sandoz v Amgen ,
SCOTUS ,
State Law Claims
We recently updated our chart that tracks state biosimilar substitution laws to include new laws in Iowa and Montana. These new laws bring the total number of states with biosimilar substitution laws to 27, plus Puerto Rico....more
4/20/2017
/ Biologics ,
Biosimilars ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Generic Drugs ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
New Legislation ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacist ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Sandoz v Amgen
Times, They Are A-Changin’ -
On Wednesday, FDA announced that it will hold a two-day public hearing on November 9th and 10th to obtain input from a broad cross-section of the health care industry, including...more
9/2/2016
/ Amarin ,
Animal Drugs ,
Biologics ,
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) ,
First Amendment ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Free Speech ,
Health Care Providers ,
Medical Devices ,
Off-Label Use ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Public Hearing ,
Public Safety ,
Settlement
Our long-time readers know that there are many legal, regulatory, and scientific questions surrounding the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA), which was passed as part of the ACA and created a new...more
We spend a lot of time covering prescription drug costs on this blog, and even convened a Pharmacy Industry Summit earlier this year focusing on the various pressures that are contributing to higher drug prices. Although...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last week disputed the effectiveness and competitive impact of the Food and Drug Administration’s recently proposed biosimilar naming policy and argued that using different nonproprietary...more
11/5/2015
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Biologics ,
Biosimilars ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Patient Safety ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Proposed Regulation ,
World Health Organization
On October 6th, California’s governor signed Senate Bill 671, which permits pharmacists to substitute an interchangeable biological product for a prescribed biological product. The California legislature had attempted to pass...more
10/17/2015
/ Biologics ,
Biosimilars ,
Comment Period ,
Generic Drugs ,
Governor Brown ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Pharmacies ,
Pharmacist ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Proposed Regulation
After months of pressure from industry, health practitioners and even congressional stakeholders, FDA has finally proposed a convention for assigning nonproprietary names (also known as proper names) to biological products....more
Government and private health-care program payers have been anxiously awaiting FDA action on biosimilars. Payers anticipate that the ability to substitute and dispense a biosimilar product in lieu of a more expensive...more
In early April, Colorado joined multiple other states in passing a biosimilar substitution law that addresses the circumstances under which an FDA-approved interchangeable biosimilar product may be substituted for the...more