The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday unveiled recommendations for vaccine, drug and diagnostic test developers to address the impact of COVID-19 variants on the efficacy and performance of their products.   The recommendations are made across four new and updated guidances targeting vaccines , drugs and biologics , monoclonal antibodies and diagnostic tests .   “The purpose of these guidances is to address the emergence and potential future emer...

The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) has released its list of draft and final guidances it plans to issue in 2021.   The list contains just 14 guidances, half of which will be draft documents, down from 31 guidances in 2020 and 20 guidances in 2019. Of those 14 guidances, only a few are new additions to the list, with the remainder being carried over from the previous year.   CBER was able to cross more tha...

The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) released a list of the new and revised draft guidances it plans to release in 2021.   The agenda, while oftentimes aspirational, provides insights as to what the agency’s drug center’s new guidance priorities are for the coming year. However, the list does not include draft or revised guidances the agency plans to finalize in 2021. (RELATED: 2020 CDER draft and revised guidance...

In guidance released Monday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides the timelines it will stick to when reviewing responses to complete response letters (CRLs) for drugs and biologics when a facility assessment or inspection is required in order for the agency to make a decision on the application.   FDA’s ability to conduct on-site inspections has been dramatically curtailed amid the COVID-19 pandemic due to public health concerns and travel restrictions. ...

FDA has released three device-specific guidance documents detailing performance criteria in support of its Safety and Performance Based Pathway. The texts cover magnetic resonance (MR) receive-only coils, spinal plating systems and non-spinal metallic bone screws.   Last year, FDA published guidance on the optional Safety and Performance Based Pathway. The text set out the agency’s thinking on a pathway intended to enable companies to show a new product is as safe ...

In its latest quarterly release of product-specific guidances meant to promote the development of generic drugs, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday posted 13 new and 21 revised draft guidances, bringing the total number of such guidances released by the agency to 1,974.   The guidances are intended to foster generic competition by clarifying the agency’s expectations for the studies required to demonstrate that a generic drug is equivalent to a refe...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued draft guidance for industry on the use of physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) analyses for biopharmaceutics applications. A PBPK analysis uses models and simulations combining physiology, population, and drug substance and product characteristics to mechanistically describe the pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic behaviors of a particular drug product, according to the FDA. The idea behind using this techni...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finalized a guidance for industry on development of drugs and therapeutic biologics for treating eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), a chronic, allergic inflammatory disease of the esophagus, for which there are currently no approved therapies.   The guidance addresses the agency’s thinking on clinical trials and development programs, focusing on trial population and design, efficacy and safety, as well as pediatric considera...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday released its latest batch of product-specific guidances, posting 19 new and 17 revised draft guidances, bringing the total number of product-specific guidances issued by the agency to 1,938.   The guidances , which FDA posts quarterly, are intended to promote generic competition by clarifying the agency’s expectations for the studies required to demonstrate that a generic drug is equivalent to a reference listed drug...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday issued draft guidance providing recommendations to drugmakers on evaluating cancer drugs in patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastases.   FDA says the guidance is meant to inform clinical trial designs to support product labeling that describes antitumor activity of drugs or biologics in patients with CNS metastases from solid tumors originating in other parts of the body.   "There are few effectiv...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday finalized guidance making recommendations to sponsors encouraging them to enroll male patients in breast cancer clinical trials.   The final guidance comes one year after the agency issued the draft version for comment and includes only minor changes from the previous iteration. (RELATED: FDA calls for men to be enrolled in breast cancer trials , 26 August 2019) .   As in the draft version, FDA explains that ...

In an immediately effective guidance issued Tuesday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sets its expectations for the development and licensure of vaccines to prevent coronavirus disease (COVID-19), including considerations for manufacturing, nonclinical and clinical studies and post-licensure requirements.   For a vaccine that would be widely deployed against COVID-19, FDA says it expects sponsors to demonstrate that the vaccine is at least 50% effective in a p...