The European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMA), the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA), and the European Commission are calling for representatives from the research community, pharmaceutical sponsors, academics and regulators to participate in a new multistakeholder platform (MSP) or forum to share and implement ideas for improving clinical trials in the EU.   The call for participation is being launched under last year’s EC-HMA-EMA initiative Accelerating Clinical Tri...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prevented 317 drug shortages in 2021, the highest number since the agency began tracking drug shortages in 2012, according to a recent report released by the agency.   The agency’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) has been tracking drug shortages since the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA) was passed in 2012, which requires FDA to release an annual report to Congress; FDA’s Center f...

To ensure resiliency in the medical supply chain, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should publicly disclose the location of all manufacturing facilities that supply ingredients and parts for pharmaceuticals and medical devices approved in the US, according to a consensus study report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM).   This is one of seven recommendations in a 365-page report on building supply chain resiliency. The re...

Pediatric oncology patients continue to have significant unmet medical need. Although the Pediatric Research Equity Act (PREA) mandated evaluation of new drugs for pediatric patients, the rarity and uniquity of pediatric cancers allowed for waivers or exemptions from PREA requirements. The passing of FDA Reauthorization Act amendments in 2017 included the Research Acceleration for Cure and Equity Act, which expands the scope of oncology products subject to PREA. Sponsors d...

More than four years after the 21 st Century Cures Act was signed into law, Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Fred Upton (R-MI) on Tuesday circulated a discussion draft of their proposed Cures 2.0 legislation, setting the stage for negotiations on the long-awaited legislative package.   In addition to proposing new programs and enhancements for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the 127-page draft bill ...

Thanks to the 21st Century Cures Act , the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday published new draft guidance to help stakeholders submit a proposed draft guidance on patient experience data. The 12-page draft guidance, which provides information in a Q&A format, addresses questions relating to both guidance development and other potential pathways for contributing patient experience data. “Today’s guidance document is part of our commitment to advance p...

While noting that the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) has reached some important milestones in 2018, CDER Director Janet Woodcock also unveiled the center’s priorities for 2019 at the CMS/FDA Summit in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. “We’ve generally accomplished what we set out to do” in 2018, she said, noting that in the generic drug space, “we’ve reached a steady state,” while in the new molecular entity (NME) space...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday released its priorities for addressing compounded drugs in 2018 after years of developing policies to improve its oversight. Background In recent years, FDA has worked to update its policies on compounded drugs in response to a 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak linked to the New England Compounding Center that led to at least 60 deaths and new requirements brought on by the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA) of 201...

A bill making its way through Congress could end up having "potentially disastrous consequences" for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and public health, professors from the Program on Regulation, Therapeutics, and Law at Harvard Medical School and the Georgia State University College of Law, wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine this week. The bill, known as the Regulatory Accountability Act , has been promoted as a way to decrease burdensome regul...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday issued draft guidance detailing its policy for when packages and homogenous cases of drugs without a product identifier are grandfathered from certain provisions of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA). While the guidance comes two years after the deadline set by the DSCSA and on the same day that requirements for manufacturers to begin affixing or imprinting product identifiers on packages and homogenous cases ...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made it a priority to find a balance between encouraging innovative medical products and increasing access to lower-cost pharmaceuticals under the Hatch-Waxman Act 1984 . But when it comes to finding ways to speed the influx of generic drugs and stop frequently cited abuses, a host of voices from industry, academia and Congress are offering differing views. In July, FDA held a meeting to discuss certain situations in ...

While recent reports have claimed that drugmakers are manipulating the incentives provided by the Orphan Drug Act , Mike Lanthier, an operations research analyst at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), says that in most cases, the act is working as intended. "My sense is that the Orphan Drug Act has been a successful catalyst for spurring rare disease development," Lanthier said at the National Organization for Rare Disorders' (NORD) Summit in Washington, DC on ...