Health Canada last week launched a public consultation on its draft guidance for drugmakers on incorporating electronic media, such as websites or mobile applications, in prescription drug labeling.   The public consultation runs until 7 May 2021 and seeks feedback from industry, health professionals and the public on the agency’s proposed guidance. The draft guidance is built around Health Canada’s existing legal framework for labeling and explains the agency’s expect...

After providing flexibility on labeling requirements for COVID-19 vaccines last year, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Monday offered guidance on when those flexibilities could be applied to COVID-19 therapeutics.   The temporary labeling and packaging flexibilities for COVID-19 vaccines are outlined in a memorandum of understanding between the European Commission and EU member states and a questions and answers guidance from EMA . The flexibilities include al...

December 2020. It’s been just one year since we finished the last Regulatory Focus issue on advertising and labeling, yet it feels like a lifetime. In March, as the true impact of COVID-19 kicked in and we retreated from the office space to our home offices, it was hard to envision how we would prevail, both personally and professionally. But our industry, and particularly regulatory advertising and labeling, did not skip a beat and instead, stayed the course and perseve...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday revised its draft guidance providing recommendations on the content and format of labeling required under the pregnancy and lactation labeling rule (PLLR).   The draft guidance was first issued alongside the final PLLR in 2014, with the rule itself taking effect in June 2015. The PLLR revised labeling requirements under the 2006 physician labeling rule, to “provide a framework for clearly communicating information ...

This article discusses the global proliferation of various front-of-pack nutrition labeling systems, launched as a tool to help control and reduce the incidence of obesity and other noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, some cancers, and diabetes. The author addresses critical changes introduced internationally to food and beverage labels, proposals that are currently under consideration, and key elements companies should be aware of when planning mark...

In a report to Congress, the US Food and Drug Administration said that there is a public health need for additional pediatric information in labeling for over one-third of approved orphan indications that are relevant in the pediatric population. FDA research, conducted as part of the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017  (FDARA), found that of all drugs that were approved for an orphan indication between 1 April 1999 and 31 August 2018, a total of 548 orphan indications we...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) imposed a boxed warning on the labeling of rubidium 82 generators, which are used with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) heart perfusion imaging scans. The agency circulated the drug safety alert on Monday in response to recent excess radiation exposure incidents. Manufacturers Bracco Diagnostics and Jubilant DraxImage also sent letters last month to inform health care providers about incidents of patients’ exposure to high lev...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday finalized guidance on the content and placement of pediatric information within the labeling of drugs and biologics.   “The goal of this guidance is to provide recommendations to help ensure that information on the use of prescription drugs in pediatric populations (whether positive, negative, or inconclusive) is consistently placed in the proper sections and subsections within labeling so that the information is c...

Developers of companion diagnostic (CDx) tests as well as pharmaceutical and biotechnology groups and companies expressed mixed reactions to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) draft guidance on broader labeling of in vitro CDx assays for a specific group or class of oncology therapeutic products. The support and concerns were expressed through comments recently submitted to FDA’s draft guidance document, which was released  last December. Some commenters showe...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday finalized guidance on labeling drugs and biologics approved under the accelerated approval pathway.   FDA's accelerated approval program allows the agency to approve products to treat serious or life-threatening conditions based on surrogate or intermediate clinical endpoints "that are reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit." When granting accelerated approval, FDA will require a sponsor to complete postmarket...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was encouraged to help guide developers of companion diagnostics toward newly drafted policies in support of broader labeling. “We’re concerned that the situation is not optimal for patient care because a clinician may need to order a different companion diagnostic, obtain an additional biopsy from a patient or both, to have additional therapy treatment options,” US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott G...

Medtronic agreed to pay $51 million in a case brought on by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) over introducing an adulterated medical device into interstate commerce. At the center of the off-label marketing litigation is the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) 2005 premarket approval on an use indication for a neurovascular device manufactured by ev3, which was acquired  by Covidien in 2010, which Medtronic acquired  in 2015.  ev3 launched a sales and marketi...