The US Congress should take concerns raised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seriously and give the agency more authority around accelerated approvals, including the power to expedite the withdrawal of drugs from the market, according to a perspective article from three experts on drug regulation and health policy.   The perspective, written by Rachel E. Sachs, JD, MPH, of Washington University in St. Louis, Julie M. Donohue, PhD, of the University of Pittsbur...

Welcome to another installment of This Week at FDA, your weekly source for updates – big and small – on FDA, drug and medical device regulation, and what we’re reading from around the web. This week, we get a glimpse at FDA’s Spring regulatory agenda and get tips on several upcoming guidances. Plus, we learn about a new 510(k) pilot program for CBER-regulated medical devices.   Next week, FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will ...

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) continued to criticize the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for failing to provide lawmakers a Medical Device User Fee Amendments (MDUFA V) deal and for not publishing meeting minutes with industry on time. His comments came during the second user fee reauthorization hearing in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee.   On 26 April, the directors of FDA’s medical product centers sat before the HELP committee to ...

The head of the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) device center was criticized by top House lawmakers for not getting a Medical Device User Fee Amendments (MDUFA V) deal to them for review on time. He apologized for missing the statutory deadline and noted his staff have been slammed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.   On 30 March, the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) subcommittee on health met to discuss renewing FDA’s MDUFA program . At the start of the meeting c...

The new medical device user fee deal includes the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) total product lifecycle (TPLC) advisory program, or TAP, as well as new guidance development requirements and claw back provisions that let industry renegotiate fees. If signed into law as is, it would bring in $1.78-$1.9 billion over the next five years.   FDA finally published a commitment letter on 22 March summarizing the Medical Device User Fee Amendments (MDUFA V) deal i...

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 ...

After kicking off the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) reauthorization process in July, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released the first set of meeting summaries in its ongoing negotiations with industry that will shape its prescription drug review program from FY2023-2027.   The meeting summaries, while brief, provide insights into what FDA and industry hope to get out of the multi-billion-dollar agreement, with representatives from government ...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is calling on all new drug application (NDA) and abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) holders to submit one-time written reports on whether their products are available for sale or if they have been withdrawn or were never made available for sale. Reports are due 14 February and are required under a provision from the law reauthorizing the user fee programs. "The NDA or ANDA holder can submit the one-time report to FDA ...

Know the difference between a Type A, Type B and Type C meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? New draft guidance released last week will help biopharma companies understand how to conduct such meetings and what to expect. The 20-page draft explains how sponsors can submit a formal request for a meeting, which can be face-to-face, teleconference/videoconference meetings or written responses only, what sponsors should include in that request, how F...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday issued a draft guidance describing the new fee structure and types of fees applicable to generic drugmakers under the recently reauthorized Generic Drug User Fee Amendments (GDUFA II). Specifically, the guidance provides details on the various types of user fees under GDUFA II, how companies can pay those fees, the consequences of not paying and who is responsible for paying them. The guidance also provides informatio...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has begun implementing the Prescription Drug User Fee Amendments of 2017 (PDUFA VI) and on Thursday released draft guidance explaining the new fee structure and types of fees for which industry is responsible. Changes to the fee structure under PDUFA VI mean FDA can collect two types of fees through 2022: human drug application fees (accounting for 20% of the total), collected at the time applications are submitted, and pres...

The US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Inspector General on Thursday released a report finding that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) generally spent prescription drug user fees appropriately. Background FDA is authorized to collect user fees from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking approval of certain human drug and biological products to expedite the review of applications. Congress reauthorizes the user fee agreem...