Trade groups representing the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, while largely supporting the use of remote regulatory assessments (RRAs) as outlined in the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA)’s recent draft guidance, questioned how these assessments would work in practice, including how they would be coordinated with onsite inspections, whether they can be leveraged by foreign regulators and how FDA plans to ensure the privacy of companies and personnel tha...

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...

The European Commission (EC), the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have adopted ten priorities as part of a larger workplan to  accelerate the adoption of clinical trials in the EU. The priorities are meant to steer the agencies’ work from 2022-2026.   The workplan was adopted under the auspices of the EC-HMA-EMA initiative Accelerating Clinical Trials in the EU (ACT EU), which launched earlier this year. (RELATED: EU launch...

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 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued final guidance this week to assist sponsors in developing clinical pharmacology studies for neonatal populations. The guidance is meant to address gaps in neonatal labeling and encourage the development of therapies that are “unique to neonates.”   The guidance is tailored to sponsors developing these studies for investigational new drug applications (INDs), new drug applications (NDAs), biologics license applications ...

Welcome to the June issue of RF Quarterly in which global regulatory experts write about Japan’s Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), medical device regulations in China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), and a personal reflection on 3 decades at the International Council for Harmonisation (ICH). Also included are articles on the development of clinical trial disclosure requirements, expedited pathways, and the De Novo pathway and the Final Ru...

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...

Racial, ethnic and sociodemographic disparities that are present in clinical trials and compassionate use agreements for cancer immunotherapy during the pre-approval period are reduced, but not eliminated after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves these cancer treatments, according to recent research published in JAMA Network Open .   “The time frame leading up to FDA approval is an important period in which to observe disparities,” Theresa Ermer, MD, of...

The scope and complexity of requirements for global clinical trial disclosures and data sharing have increased substantially over the last 20 years. Most leading countries have specific regulations pertaining to trial conduct, and many have set up patient registries for collecting and analyzing data on patient outcomes. More recently, authorities have initiated inspections relating to disclosure to ensure compliance with regulations, and transparency advocates continue to ...

There is an unprecedented level of support among regulators to advance the adoption of decentralized clinical trials, yet companies that undertake this mode of research need to be mindful of some of the challenges that can derail these efforts. Sponsors should keep their computer systems secure, closely adhere to patient privacy laws, as well as follow good clinical practices and adopt flexible uses of technology to ensure data can be collected remotely.   So assert...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now published four draft guidances spelling out how it will consider real-world data (RWD) in regulatory decision-making, from the use of electronic health records and registries to RWD in non-interventional studies. More guidance documents are planned, including details on study designs that incorporate RWD for external control arms.   External control arms, which use data collected outside of the current trial to provide ...