While groups expressed overwhelming support for the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) draft guidance expanding eligibility criteria for investigational oncology trials, some comments discouraged the agency from taking an approach that dichotomizes the curative and non-curative setting; a pharmaceutical firm suggested that safety data be combined for some investigations performed in curative and non-curative settings.   Among the recommendations of the draft gu...

The safety and effectiveness of robotically assisted surgical devices has yet to be established in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer, according to an updated safety communication released by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).   The agency reiterated that use of these devices has been cleared for procedures such as hysterectomy, prostatectomy, and colectomy based on data from 30-day patient follow-up. However, robotically assisted surgical (RAS) devi...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "may require” or seek agreement from sponsors to conduct post-marketing studies to analyze long term effects of breast cancer drugs in both pre- and post-menopausal women in a final guidance issued on 17 June. The guidance also provides other considerations for sponsors as they plan for the inclusion of premenopausal women in clinical trials of drugs for breast cancer treatment.   According to the agency’s announcement of the f...

A newly finalized guidance on bispecific antibodies from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notes that although bispecific antibodies can generally be characterized in the same ways as standard monoclonal antibodies and manufacturing processes may be similar, some scientific and regulatory considerations are unique to bispecifics.   According to a 24 May agency announcement , while the regulatory pathway for evaluating monoclonal antibodies is “well established...

Final guidance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) specifies when sponsors must conduct pediatric studies for new cancer drugs as well as when those requirements can be waived or deferred.   Sponsors are required to evaluate these oncology drugs in pediatric populations for applications submitted on or after 18 August 2020, under changes made by the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 (FDARA).   The guidance addresses molecularly targeted oncology drugs for ...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday issued 13 new and eight revised draft product-specific guidances intended to facilitate the development of generic drugs.   The guidances are intended to foster generic competition by clarifying the agency’s expectations for the studies required to demonstrate that a generic drug is equivalent to a reference listed drug (RLD). FDA’s current count of product-specific guidances sits at 1,896 with this latest release....

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday finalized guidance on its qualified infectious disease product (QIDP) designation program.   The 12-page guidance finalizes a draft version released for comment in 2018 and includes a revised question and answer section providing clarification on the types of products the agency considers to be antibacterial or antifungal drugs for the purposes of the designation. (RELATED: FDA Drafts Q&A Guidance on QIDP Designati...

Issuance of a product specific guidance should not “diminish innovation or creativity” in generic drug development, Robert Lionberger, director for the office of research and standards in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) Office of Generic Drugs, said at a 5 May webinar on the development of product specific guidance.   FDA officials said that the number of a product specific guidances (PSGs) issued by the Office of G...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week issued 36 new and revised draft product-specific guidances meant to facilitate the development of generic drugs by clarifying the agency’s expectations for the studies required to demonstrate bioequivalence (BE) to a reference listed drug (RLD).   The latest batch of guidances includes 22 new and 14 revised draft guidances covering drugs to treat prostate cancer, hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis and numerous other cond...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday unveiled recommendations for vaccine, drug and diagnostic test developers to address the impact of COVID-19 variants on the efficacy and performance of their products.   The recommendations are made across four new and updated guidances targeting vaccines , drugs and biologics , monoclonal antibodies and diagnostic tests .   “The purpose of these guidances is to address the emergence and potential future emer...

The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) has released its list of draft and final guidances it plans to issue in 2021.   The list contains just 14 guidances, half of which will be draft documents, down from 31 guidances in 2020 and 20 guidances in 2019. Of those 14 guidances, only a few are new additions to the list, with the remainder being carried over from the previous year.   CBER was able to cross more tha...

The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) released a list of the new and revised draft guidances it plans to release in 2021.   The agenda, while oftentimes aspirational, provides insights as to what the agency’s drug center’s new guidance priorities are for the coming year. However, the list does not include draft or revised guidances the agency plans to finalize in 2021. (RELATED: 2020 CDER draft and revised guidance...