Another year, another record number of generic drug approvals and tentative approvals for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This has been the story at FDA from FY 2016 to FY 2017 to FY 2018 and now to FY 2019 , with two months to spare. But questions remain on whether these approvals are actually translating into greater competition and lower costs for patients. A report from Pew earlier this year found that the increase in approved generic drugs fr...

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concur more than 90% of the time in their decisions to approve new drugs, according to a new study from EMA and FDA officials that looked at 107 applications from 2014 to 2016. In just eight of the 107 applications, FDA initially declined to approve a new drug or biologic while EMA approved it, although in all eight of those cases, FDA ended up approving that drug or biologic. And in one case ...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set an all-time record for new drug approvals in 2018 with 59 novel drugs and biologics approved by the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER).   The number of new molecular entities (NMEs) and biologics approved by CDER surpassed the agency's previous record of 53 approvals in 1996 and is a significant jump over the 46 new drugs approved in 2017 . Those figures do not include products approved by FDA's Center...

2017 was a year of firsts for the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), with initial approvals in at least five medical conditions and other firsts that might not end up on the final scorecard, like the first biosimilar cancer treatment or the first immediate-release opioid with abuse-deterrent properties. And though the total 46 approvals is the second-highest number of approvals by CDER ever, according to the CDER ...

Fresh out of a record year for generic drug approvals, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday kicked off the new year by releasing new draft guidance and a new manual of policies and procedures (MAPP) with an eye toward decreasing the number of review cycles abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) undergo before approval. Multiple review cycles has been an outstanding challenge for the agency in years past, with less than 10% of ANDAs winning ap...

The number of new molecular entities (NMEs) approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017 (46 so far, though that number does not include the high-profile CAR-T and gene therapies approved this year) has now topped the all-time high of NMEs approved in any year except 1996. But the record number of approvals comes as experts, including CDER Director Janet Woodcock, have expressed reservations about tracking NME approvals like a horse race, or compari...

Drugmakers Sanofi and Teva, alongside industry groups AAM and the Bulk Pharmaceuticals Task Force, offered their comments earlier this month on new draft guidance related to formal meetings between FDA and abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) sponsors. The Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates’ (SOCMA) Bulk Pharmaceuticals Task Force expressed disappointment that, although it participated in the Generic Drug User Fee Amendments (GDUFA II) negotiation...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday published two new draft guidance documents that seek to support the development of treatments that address underlying genetic mutations that often cause or contribute to diseases, and another discussing how to determine if an in vitro diagnostic (IVD) device used in a study must undergo its own FDA review, distinct from a drug study. "New drugs are being developed based solely on their ability to target these und...

The generic drug industry association, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi have raised questions in comments released this week on the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent draft guidance on abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) amendments. The draft explains when ANDA amendments will be designated as either standard or priority review, classified as either major or minor and receive a goal date based on certain factors, including whether a preapproval ins...

As the year comes to a close, Patrick Frey, senior advisor to the director of the Office of New Drugs (OND) at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), looked back at FDA's performance over the final year of the fifth iteration of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA V) and what's to come in PDUFA VI. Speaking at the FDA/CMS Summit in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Frey said that before PDUFA, and during the first four PDUFA programs, FDA was approving ab...

As more cancer drugs are approved and prices continue to rise, questions have circulated on whether these drugs are extending patient survival or improving quality of life (QoL). A research article published in the BMJ last week reviewed the approval of drugs by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) from 2009 to 2013 and noted that most drugs entered the market without evidence of survival benefits or QoL. "When there were survival gains over existing treatment o...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offers multiple abbreviated approval pathways for potential drug developers, and in new draft guidance released on Thursday the agency explains both the pathways where abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) and 505(b)(2) applications can be submitted. The draft highlights criteria for submitting ANDAs under section 505(j) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), petitioned ANDAs under section 505(j)(2)(C) ...