Welcome to our new website! If this is the first time you are logging in on the new site, you will need to reset your password. Please contact us at raps@raps.org if you need assistance.
The regulatory function is vital in making safe and effective healthcare products available worldwide. Individuals who ensure regulatory compliance and prepare submissions, as well as those whose main job function is clinical affairs or quality assurance are all considered regulatory professionals.
Resources, news and special offers to support you and your professional development during this difficult time.
One of our most valuable contributions to the profession is the Regulatory Code of Ethics. The Code of Ethics provides regulatory professionals with core values that hold them to the highest standards of professional conduct.
Your membership opens the door to free learning resources on demand. Check out the Member Knowledge Center for free webcasts, publications and online courses.
Like all professions, regulatory is based on a shared set of competencies. The Regulatory Competency Framework describes the essential elements of what is required of regulatory professionals at four major career and professional levels.
Join the brightest minds in regulatory at the annual Regulatory Convergence. See the global regulatory community in action. Intensive workshops. Topical sessions. Meet ups with regulators. This is where it all comes together.
With so many global regulation changes, staying informed is a challenge. Join other regulatory professionals as you navigate the gray together.
Updated by a group of distinguished regulatory experts, this new edition is a must-have handbook for regulatory professionals at all levels.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the RAC Board has elected to offer online testing with live online proctoring this summer.
The site navigation utilizes arrow, enter, escape, and space bar key commands. Left and right arrows move across top level links and expand / close menus in sub levels. Up and Down arrows will open main level menus and toggle through sub tier links. Enter and space open menus and escape closes them as well. Tab will move on to the next part of the site rather than go through menu items.
RAPS is closely monitoring developments in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. See our public safety page for the latest updates.
The RAPS store will be under maintenance Saturday, 13 June between 6 AM and 12 PM EST. Store functionality may be unavailable at times during this window. We apologize for any inconvenience caused during this time.
Posted 15 May 2014 | By Alexander Gaffney, RAC,
For the first time in nearly three months, the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP) has released a new Untitled Letter, this time alleging that a company's printed sales aid is misleading in that it does not adequately communicate the risks of the product.
The 6 May 2014 Untitled Letter—a type of warning which alleges deviations from FDA's advertising standards, but does not threaten disciplinary action—is addressed to Alvogen, a pharmaceutical company whose sales aid for disulfiram tablets caught the eye of FDA.
Disulfiram, more commonly known by the brand name Antabuse, is used by patients to treat alcoholism by inducing an undesirable physical reaction when alcohol comes into contact with the drug.
FDA said it took issue with a "new product release" promotion distributed by Alvogen which announces the product's introduction into the market and briefly notes that it is "an aid in the management of selected chronic alcohol patients who want to remain in a state of enforced sobriety."
Most of the advertisement, however, is focused on the product's physical packaging attributes, which are described as supporting "pharmacy efficiency and filing accuracy" and coming in "flexible" alternatives based on the needs of each individual pharmacy.
For FDA, however, the inclusion of the product's intended medical use—the treatment of alcoholism—and its product category ("alcohol antagonist") without also listing risk information renders the sales aid "misleading" under its policy of requiring fair balance of benefits and risks in all drug promotions.
"By omitting the most serious and frequently occurring risks associated with disulfiram, the sales aid misleadingly suggests that disulfiram is safer than has been demonstrated," FDA claimed.
In addition, OPDP claimed that the sales aid omitted "material fact[s]" by failing to include that the drug is, "not a cure for alcoholism" and is generally less effective when used absent other supportive measures like therapy.
FDA requested that the company immediately stop distributing the advertisement.
Focus has reached out to Alvogen for comment but had not heard back at the time this article was published.
Untitled Letter to Alvogen
Tags: OPDP, Untitled Letter, Misleading, Risk Omission, Omission of Risk
Regulatory Focus newsletters
All the biggest regulatory news and happenings.