The European Commission (EC) on Monday released a report on pharmaceutical competition enforcement activities by the Commission and EU member states' national competition authorities from 2009 to 2017.   The 46-page report was put together in response to concerns voiced by the European Council and Parliament in 2016 and 2017 regarding anticompetitive practices within the pharmaceutical sector, such as tactics to delay generic competition, pay-for-delay arrangements...

The European Commission recently released an updated document setting out nine new and one revised frequently asked questions and answers on the implementation of the rules on the safety features for medicinal products for human use. Building off a previous update in November , five of the new questions deal with general issues, like whether medicinal products can carry more than one batch number, or whether during the transitional period manufacturers located in the E...

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday announced it has reached a settlement with CellMark Biopharma related to the company's claims about marketing efforts to sell two of its unapproved products. The settlement comes less than a year after FDA sent CellMark an advisory letter notifying the company that it must remove claims from its website and other materials indicating that CellAssure could treat or prevent cancer. FDA said that the company would need to ...

The White House Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis on Monday urged President Donald Trump to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency under the either the Public Health Service Act or the Stafford Act . In an interim report released Monday afternoon, the commission, chaired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R),  laid out eight specific actions ahead of a final report to be issued sometime in the future, which will include "a f...

A majority of respondents to a European Commission questionnaire, including pharmaceutical and medical device companies, says health technology assessment (HTA) cooperation at the EU level should continue beyond 2020. The results, revealed in a EC report on Monday, found that almost all respondents (98%) consider it useful to compare whether new health technologies work better, equally well or worse than existing ones, as part of guidance to decision makers. Backg...

The regulatory group known as the Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S) said in a letter released this week that it is “unanimously concerned” about the public health and safety impact of a new European Commission guideline that would lower good manufacturing practice (GMP) requirements for advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs). "By lowering the GMP requirements for ATMPs, the European Commission is not only exposing patients to an increased risk t...

The European Commission on Tuesday opened for public comment a revised guideline concerning the list of excipients, defined as any constituents of a medicinal product other than the active substance and the packaging material, which must be included on the labeling of medicines, as well as the way in which these excipients must be indicated.  The guideline’s revision, which the EC says reflects developments since 2003, includes a list of excipients which should be state...

The European Commission and its Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) released a preliminary opinion earlier this month reiterating that, when alternatives do not exist, the appropriate use of non-human primates (NHPs) remains essential to some biomedical and biological research, as well as for pharmaceutical safety assessments. The opinion is part of a process to reevaluate the same conclusion from 2009 that “recognised that animals s...

The European Commission is offering guidance for device companies and other stakeholders trying to determine if their standalone software should be considered a medical device, in vitro diagnostic (IVD) or neither. As the commission notes, standalone software can directly control an apparatus (e.g. radiotherapy treatment), provide immediate decision-triggering information (e.g. blood glucose meters) or provide support for healthcare professionals (e.g. ECG interpretatio...

This article reviews the mission of the of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), an international body whose mandate is to develop internationally harmonised food safety and quality standards to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the food trade. Introduction Food standards may be developed at various levels, including national, bilateral, regional and multilateral settings. However, the food standards and related texts developed by the Cod...

The European Commission on Friday proposed to review the concept of “similar medicinal products” in the context of its orphan legislation as part of a wider effort to adapt the text to technical progress. Fifteen years after the implementation of the orphan legislation, the commission says it is currently launching initiatives to improve the implementation of the regulatory framework with a view to ensuring timely access to medicinal products.  In this context, the Comm...

The European Council's Permanent Representatives Committee and the European Parliament’s Environment and Health Committee on Wednesday endorsed the agreement reached on the continent’s new medical device and  in vitro diagnostic (IVD) regulations, a day after the draft versions of the texts were released. Following a legal-linguistic review of the two documents planned for September, the Council and Parliament could adopt the two draft regulations by the end of 2...