In closing a whistleblower case concerning allegations of downgraded inspection findings raised by a former investigator on the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Team Biologics, US Special Counsel Henry Kerner wrote to President Joe Biden that he is “troubled” by many aspects of the case.   In the letter, Kerner says that FDA’s report on its investigation of the allegations “meets all the statutory requirements but that the findings do not appear reasonable” and ...

For decades, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has raised concerns about the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) inspections program. Now, a year after the agency halted most of its foreign and domestic inspections due to the COVID-19 pandemic, GAO warns that the ensuing backlog could take years to clear.   In a new report and testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it has put in place an interim process to communicate issues identified during record reviews done in lieu of or in advance of preapproval inspections with drugmakers and consider their responses before taking action on an application.   The agency says the interim process will continue throughout the COVID-19 public health emergency and may be extended to other drug inspection programs, including routine surveillance insp...

In a nearly 350-page report to Congress on the federal government’s COVID-19 response, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) calls on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review its inspections approach and come up with a plan to address its looming backlog.   Pandemic inspection alternatives   In the early days of the pandemic, FDA halted non-mission-critical foreign and domestic inspections and relied on alternative tools, such as inspection reports ...

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. ...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday announced it will pilot a new program it hopes will spur the development of novel drug development tools (DDTs) that do not fit within the agency’s existing DDT qualification programs.   The qualification process for DDTs was revamped under the 21 st Century Cures Act and FDA currently offers specific qualification programs for biomarkers, clinical outcome assessments (COAs) and animal models for use under the Anim...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday announced it will not begin collecting drug manufacturing volume data next month as required by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).   Section 3112 of the CARES Act establishes new reporting requirements for drug manufacturers intended to improve the response to drug shortages, including expanding shortage reporting requirements for life-saving drugs to include drugs that are “critical...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday issued an immediately effective frequently asked questions guidance  explaining its approach to inspections and manufacturing and supply chain changes during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.   Inspections   For the time being, FDA says it is still following the approach to resuming domestic inspections it laid out last month and will continue to postpone non-mission-critical foreign pre-approval an...

Months after halting most inspections amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday said it plans to resume on-site domestic inspections beginning the week of 20 July 2020.   As a safety measure, FDA will pre-announce all inspections, save for retail tobacco inspections, for the foreseeable future.   The announcement comes nearly two months after the agency said it will implement a phased approach to restartin...

Feature articles during May focused on risk management and mitigation in dealing with contractors and vendors and included articles on best practices in good vendor management, use of risk management to support outsourcing activities, testing in-house versus outsourcing, and outsourcing in regulatory operations. Also included were in-depth examinations of challenges and opportunities in “bespoke” therapies, a critical appraisal of drug shortages in Germany and an update on...

This article discusses the advent of bespoke therapies, defined as the tailoring of medical treatment to the individual characteristics or symptoms and responses of a patient during all stages of care and as a new frontier beyond personalized medicine. The author covers the revolutionary genetic tools implementing such therapies and the clinical and nonclinical safety perspectives for bespoke therapies. The author concludes that with bespoke therapies we are entering a new...

This article discusses drug shortages in Germany, the root causes of production problems with active pharmaceutical ingredients, and drug product manufacturers. The authors offer analysis from the perspective of a medium-sized generic drug manufacturer. They outline a range of reasons for the shortages, all of which point to a “broken marketplace.” The authors conclude with a discussion of mitigation activities and address the current COVID-19 pandemic. They warn that drug...