The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday released draft guidance on its interpretation of the "deemed to be a license" provision of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) of 2010. Put simply: FDA will not approve any pending or tentatively approved application for a biological product under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act after 23 March 2020.  The provision in the BPCIA states that: "An approved application for a biologi...

Editor's note: After publishing this article, Focus received comments from Bayer refuting the allegations made by Rep. Fitzpatrick. See our coverage of Bayer's comments in a follow up article published Thursday. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) on Wednesday presented new information raising questions about the safety of the permanent birth control device Essure, claiming the number of fetal deaths related to the device are far greater than what has been reported by the U...

A group of 51 lawmakers are calling on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to issue guidance on when "march-in rights" could be used to bypass patents on drugs developed using federal funding. In a letter led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell and NIH Director Francis Collins today, the lawmakers call on NIH to "utilize [its] existing statutory authority to respond to the soaring cost of pharmaceutic...

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Friday introduced a bill that would completely overhaul the way the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) operates. More specifically, the “Reciprocity Ensures Streamlined Use of Lifesaving Treatments Act (S. 2388), or the RESULT Act,” would: allow for reciprocal approval of drugs, devices and biologics from foreign sponsors in EU member countries, Israel, Australia, Canada and Japan r...

Orphan drug provisions in the House-passed 21st Century Cures Act could increase US healthcare spending by billions of dollars over the next decade, consumer advocacy group Public Citizen warns, though the bill still remains in limbo in the Senate. The provisions in question would add an additional six months of marketing exclusivity for approved drugs that later go on to be approved to treat rare diseases. The extended period of exclusivity would apply to all indicati...

A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins are calling for reforms to the Orphan Drug Act , saying that loopholes have allowed drug companies to skirt the act's intent by taking advantage of its incentives for non-orphan conditions. Background The Orphan Drug Act of 1983 was passed to spur drug development for rare diseases. The act created incentives for drugs that treat diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 individuals in the US per year. The incentives include seven-...

In an unprecedented move, Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA) on Wednesday unveiled a new bill that directs the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to withdraw from the market Bayer’s birth control implant Essure. The safety of the implantable device, which is used for permanent birth control, has been called into question recently, with FDA holding an advisory panel meeting on the device's safety in September. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) also requested FDA pull the produc...

A bill that would effectively provide manufacturers with more certainty on the marketing exclusivity of approved drugs needing DEA clearance advanced unanimously through a Senate committee Wednesday. Background In order for a drug to be marketed, it must not only be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) must also schedule the drug to a particular class under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Under current law...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday announced that it would increase the rare pediatric disease priority review voucher fee rate for FY 2016 by about $200,000. The new rate -- $2,727,000 – is effective on 1 October and will remain in effect for the next year. FDA previously set the fee rates at $2,562,000 for FY 2015 and $2,325,000 for FY 2014. The new rate is based on FDA's estimate that the cost of a standard review for new molecular entity (NME) new dr...

An increasing number of newly-approved drugs by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been associated with expedited development or review programs, though many of these approved drugs are not first in class and potentially less innovative, according to two new studies published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). Background Under the standard regulatory review process, FDA has 10 months to review a potential new drug's safety and efficacy based on a company'...

Last month, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would repeal the medical device tax levied under the Affordable Care Act ( ACA ). Now, the Senate Joint Economic Committee (JEC) has released a report critical of the tax, calling the tax "onerous" and "poorly conceived." Background The medical device tax has been controversial since before ACA was signed in 2010. Under ACA , a manufacturer or importer of a medical device is subject to an excise tax of...

Several of the generic drug industry's most prominent groups are calling on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make major changes to the program supporting one of its marquee funding sources, the Generic Drug User Fee Act (GDUFA). Background GDUFA is modeled off several other conceptually similar user fee programs, including the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) and the Medical Device User Fee Act (MDUFA). The concept behind the programs is relatively st...