Benefit-risk (BR) assessment, a central part of regulatory decision making, has become increasingly structured in response to the need for consistency and transparency, and in alignment with the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) 2021 draft BR guidance. Early planning and established processes are critical to successful execution. To help regulatory affairs professionals guide clinical development teams in planning and conducting patient-focused structured BR assess...

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) this week issued a question-and-answer guidance to address sponsors’ questions on its pilot testing the review of raw clinical trial data for marketing authorization applications (MAAs) and post-authorization applications.   EMA issued an updated guidance on the pilot in October. (RELATED: EMA to explore reviewing raw data from clinical trials in applications , Regulatory Focus 12 July 2022)   The purpose of the pilot is to ...

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has issued a guidance in a question-and-answer format to assist sponsors in navigating the Clinical Trials Regulation (CTR) and the new clinical trials information system (CTIS) portal. Use of the CTIS became mandatory on 31 January.   The Q&A was developed by EMA’s Query Management Working Group (QMWG) to clarify some areas of ambiguity raised by stakeholders, which included the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO),...

The European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMA), the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA), and the European Commission are calling for representatives from the research community, pharmaceutical sponsors, academics and regulators to participate in a new multistakeholder platform (MSP) or forum to share and implement ideas for improving clinical trials in the EU.   The call for participation is being launched under last year’s EC-HMA-EMA initiative Accelerating Clinical Tri...

India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) implemented the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules in 2019 to expedite the drug development and approval processes. This article provides an overview of those processes; explains the rule-specific terminology, such as the definitions of “drug” and “new drug” under Indian law; and outlines strategies for speeding up the approval processes and optimizing registration of prescription medicines in India.   Keywo...

Updated 3 November 2022* The discovery of novel nitrosamine impurities in pharmaceuticals, coming after the valsartan/nitrosamine crisis of 2018, has caught global regulators and industry by surprise as more products than anticipated are affected by these impurities.   The situation raises new questions about how to set daily acceptable intake limits for pharmaceutical products when toxicological data on these impurities is scarce.   These novel nitrosamines, ...

The European Medicine Agency (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) last week endorsed 12 new medicines for authorization, including the first treatment to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in newborns, driving the total number of endorsed treatments to 70 since the beginning of the year. Five of the 12 approval recommendations are for orphan drugs.   The new RSV treatment, Beyfortus (nirsevimab) developed by AstraZeneca and Sanofi, was s...

PHOENIX, AZ – Country-specific requirements that diverge from the Clinical Trials Regulation (CTR) and the lack of a forum for resolving issues with the Clinical Trial Information System (CTIS) portal were among the key issues industry representatives brought to a session at RAPS Convergence 2022.   Another problem is that the portal does not flag or send information to sponsors when new information is received, so sponsors must check frequently for updates.   In t...

Nearly 195 clinical trial applications (CTAs) have been submitted to the European Medicine Agency’s (EMA) Clinical Trial Information System (CTIS) portal through July, marking a substantial increase from a month earlier, according to a 23 August report from the agency.   However, during the same period, most applications (224) were still being registered in the older EudraCT database. (RELATED: EMA reports slow uptick in clinical trial applications submitted via CT...

The number of applications filed through the Clinical Trial Information System (CTIS) portal continues to grow, even while most applications are still being filed in the current EudraCT system, according to a 28 July report from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).  Stakeholders offered a mixed assessment of their user experience at recent forum.   Starting in January 2023, CTIS will replace the EudraCT portal and clinical trial sponsors must use the CTIS portal to a...

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will be updating its guideline on active substances to incorporate strategies for controlling and preventing nitrosamines in drug products and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), the agency announced in a new concept paper .   The revised guideline is meant to address risk factors for formation of nitrosamines in medicinal products and strategies for preventing their formation and presence.   EMA and other regulators have ...

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is looking for industry participants for a pilot assessing whether reviewing raw clinical trial data improves its evaluation of marketing authorization applications (MAAs) for new medicines and post-authorization applications.   The pilot , announced on 12 July, stems from a joint workplan announced by EMA and the EU’s Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) to address issues related to big data in healthcare and medicines development. On...