For investigational new drug application (IND) sponsors running clinical trials and debating when a serious adverse event can be linked to an investigational drug and is serious enough to unblind data, FDA offered new draft recommendations on Wednesday. The new guidance on IND safety reporting follows previous guidance on Safety Reporting Requirements for INDs and BA/BE Studies from 2012 and contains specific details on: The composition and role of a safety assessment ...

Investigational new drug application (IND) sponsors communicating with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the various drug development phases now will have a new set of best practices to consult with prior to their meetings thanks to draft guidance released by FDA on Friday. The communications between FDA and industry are often opportunities to share cirtical information on clinical trials and for the agency to provide advice on trial design, dose selection...

For the second time since 2000, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent a warning letter to a Newport Beach, California-based ophthalmologist over objections to a clinical trial run by him. The latest letter, released Tuesday, claims that Dr. Thomas Tooma of the NVISION Laser Eye Centers ran a clinical trial at seven sites with an unapproved drug without first submitting an investigational new drug (IND) application to FDA as required by law. “Your investig...

Within two years, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will require all new drug and biological product submissions to be sent electronically, the regulator announced this week. Background FDA has received electronic submissions from drug companies since at least 2003, when it adopted the International Conference on Harmonisation's (ICH) electronic common technical document (eCTD). The submission standard is used by many of the world's top regulatory bodies, incl...

Conducting clinical research is difficult. Patients need to be protected, protocols adhered to, results meticulously recorded and hundreds of regulations followed. And when all is said and done, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that complying with its clinical trial regulations takes almost 23 million hours each year. Background FDA regulates clinical trials under Chapter 21 of the Code of Federal Regulation , Section 312 (21 CFR 312). The section ...

Last year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received—and approved—substantially more requests for "compassionate" access to potentially life-saving treatments than any time since at least 2010, according to new data provided by the regulator. Background The data relate to FDA's "expanded access" program—sometimes called its "compassionate use" program—which was created to allow a pathway for terminally or critically ill patients to obtain access to drugs they...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants the public's feedback on ways it can make it easier to communicate with the agency during the clinical trials process. In an announcement in the Federal Register on 28 October 2014, FDA said it had established a docket at regulations.gov to allow it to receive comments from industry, the public and other organizations interested in formulating "best practices for communication between FDA and investigational new drug appl...

Three Republican legislators are pressing the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide them with information about its application of its expanded access regulations, saying they are in the midst of performing "oversight" over the program. Background FDA's expanded access regulations, sometimes referred to as its "compassionate use" program, allow patients to access clinical trials they otherwise might not be eligible for. The program is meant to offer ho...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a new draft guidance recommending various approaches when conducting bioequivalence (BE) and bioavailability (BA) studies in support of new and investigational drug applications. What Does FDA Mean by BA/BE? BA refers to the extent to which a drug is absorbed into the body and is thus available to act upon the drug's intended target, also known as the "site of action" (21 CFR 320.1[a]). For example, if a drug is in...

Two new guidance documents just released by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalize recommendations for Biologics License Applications (BLAs) and Investigational New Drug Applications (INDs) submitted in support of minimally manipulated placental or umbilical cord blood intended to help treat patients with hematopoietic system disorders. Hematopoeietic system disorders include ones affecting red blood cells (e.g. anemia), granulocytes (e.g. granulocytopenia), ...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reopened a comment period for a guidance document that aims to clarify the circumstances in which a research study involving human subjects may be conducted without first filing an investigational new drug application (IND) with the agency. Background: IND Basics The draft version of the guidance was released in September 2013, and is intended to make clear the cases when an IND is not required. In general, any investigat...

Regulatory Focus'  ongoing series of  Regulatory Explainers  wants to take complicated regulatory topics and make them simple for anyone to understand. In our latest Regulatory Explainer, we break down FDA's expanded access-sometimes referred to as compassionate use-regulations to understand how they work. Updated 4 February 2015. What's a Compassionate Use Program? Let's back up for a quick moment: Under current US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, ...