The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a long-awaited proposed rule to create a new regulatory category that would allow the sale of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids for adults with mild and moderate hearing loss.   Implementing the proposed rule would make good on requirements established by the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017 passed as a provision of the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 . The act directed FDA to create a report available f...

More than ever, consumers are looking to over-the-counter (OTC) medicines for treatment options that are easily accessible and often less costly than prescription alternatives. The OTC market in the US is growing. Sales are expected to grow from the $25 billion spent in 2013 to an estimated $42 billion in 2024, a 68% increase. When a prescription medicine is reclassified to be made available without a prescription, it is known as an Rx-to-OTC switch. In such cases, the ...

Slipshod testing of two over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics along with improper marketing of one led the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue three warning letters to manufacturers located outside the US. Additionally, the agency continued its crackdown on imported hand sanitizers.   The recipients of the warning letters, which were all issued in mid-September, include Laboratorio Pharma International in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, a manufacturer of antibiotics and ...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a new pilot program to review novel excipients for use in meeting unmet needs in formulating new drug products. The pilot has the full support of the pharmaceutical industry.   FDA called the program “a new pathway for manufacturers to obtain FDA review of certain novel excipients (inactive ingredients) prior to their use in drug formulations,” according to a 7 September announcement.   Excipients are inactiv...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) criticized a Turkish manufacturer of over-the-counter drugs for failing to test incoming ingredients and to test products before releasing them to the market in a recent warning letter . The company was also warned for its lax approach to stability testing.   The 13 May letter to Istanbul-based Gulsah Uretim Kozmetik Sanayi Anonim Sirketi follows up on FDA’s review of a 23 April response to request for records. The firm is the...

Welcome to Regulatory Reconnaissance, your daily regulatory news and intelligence briefing.   In Focus: US When Will the Delta Surge End? ( NYT ) Why can’t America fix its Covid-19 testing problems? ( VOX ) Vaccination Rates Rose In August As COVID Cases Surged Due To The Delta Variant ( NPR ) First vaccination doses up 17 percent since Pfizer approval: analysis ( The Hill ) Companies eye financial penalties for unvaccinated workers ( The Hill ) America has waste...

The Senate Appropriations committee has completed its markup of the FY2022 budget for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), advancing by a 25-5 vote a bill that would hold the agency to a $200 million increase in its budget authority.   The bill exited the Appropriations subcommittee responsible for FDA funding on Monday with no objections to the Senate’s proposed 6% increase for the agency over FY2021 figures. (RELATED: Senate subcommittee advances FY2022 FDA f...

This week, the Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S) announced that its new guidance on good practices for data management and integrity for pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors has come into effect.   When authorities inspect facilities of manufacturers and distributors of active pharmaceutical ingredients to ensure good manufacturing practice and good distribution practice (GMP/GDP) compliance, “The effectiveness of these inspection processes...

Following a dispute with the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) that resulted in its initial notice being withdrawn, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday reissued its notice announcing fee rates for its newly created over-the-counter (OTC) monograph drug user fee program (OMUFA) for FY2021.   FDA initially issued the notice on 29 December, but it was quickly withdrawn by HHS over public outcry against FDA’s plans to collect user fees fro...

Just before the New Year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the fee rates it will collect for its Over-the-Counter (OTC) Monograph Drug user fee program (OMUFA) in FY2021, as it did earlier in the year for its other user fee programs.   The seemingly innocuous act proved controversial for its potential impact on liquor distillers who stepped in to manufacture hand sanitizers amid the COVID-19 pandemic an...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published the user fee amounts it will collect in FY2021 from manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, generic drugs, biosimilars, medical devices and outsourcing facilities. The table below lists the user fees for each program:   FDA User Fee Table FY2021 Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA VI) FY2021 FY2020 Change Applications:            Requiring clinical data $2,875,842 $2,942,965 -$67,123 ...

This article discusses the impact of over-the-counter (OTC) monograph reform, part of the recently passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act . Regulators and public health stakeholders have been championing OTC monograph reform for more than five years. Then, in what seems like a blink of any eye, it is now law, passed by Congress and signed by the President on 27 March 2020 as part of the CARES Act for pandemic relief. The new law reflects the...