Regulatory Authority Actions

This article explores the evolution of FDA’s approach to inspections of drug and biologics manufacturing facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Acting FDA commissioner announces permanent appointment of Patrizia Cavazzoni as CDER director, following year-long acting-director role.

CDC and FDA are reviewing data from reported cases of a rare type of blood clot in people that received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.

FDA has accepted Airway’s investigational new drug application for the development of its novel human recombinant protein, AT-100 (rhSP-D), as a treatment for COVID-19.

Even before Emergent disclosed that it had to discard 15 million doses of the J&J vaccine drug substance, FDA inspectors had uncovered multiple deficiencies and quality control issues.

The first revision further clarifies the number of doses per vial for the vials that are already available, while the second revision allows for the availability of an additional multi-dose vial.

Concerns over vulnerability in the supply chain has increased pressure on FDA to renew site visits of domestic and foreign facilities.

A slew of solid-dose drug recalls were issued over the course of 2020 and in early 2021 after nitrosamine contamination was found in products.

EMA has approved the manufacturing of drug product for BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, BNT162b2, at BioNTech’s manufacturing site located in Marburg, Germany.

The need for added revenues to fund billion-dollar infrastructure improvements has fueled challenges to industry pricing practices.

Abecma is the first B-cell maturation antigen-directed chimeric antigen receptor T cell immunotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after four or more prior lines of therapy.

The agency says that data do not support the use of ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19 outside of clinical trials.

FDA has issued warning letters to two US-based manufacturers, Honest Globe and Biolyte Laboratories, for selling products labeled as containing cannabidiol in ways that violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

MHRA and EMA have confirmed that the benefits of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine continue to outweigh the risk of side effects.

BIA has released comments urging the UK government to take a science-based approach to the regulatory framework for gene editing and GMOs.

The agency’s focus appears to be on generic drugs for the upcoming year.

Sagent Pharmaceuticals is voluntarily recalling three lots of Phenylephrine Hydrochloride Injection, USP (10 mg/mL) to the user level because of a customer complaint regarding potentially loose crimped vial overseals, which can result in a non-sterile product.

With no final nomination of FDA commissioner coming from the White House, concern has mounted among regulated industry and interested stakeholders that FDA operations and stature will suffer without a permanent commissioner able to articulate new policies and gain support for innovative programs.

The European Medicines Agency has begun a rolling review based on laboratory and clinical studies of the Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac).

The European Medicines Agency and Health Canada have published clinical data used to support the authorization of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The agency is working to identify and obstruct scammers looking to profit from the pandemic.

The guidance document provides recommendations for reporting and implementing changes to container closure system components consisting of glass vials and stoppers for sterile drug products.

The EC has launched a structured dialogue aimed at gaining a better understanding of global medicines supply chains and to identify potential causes and drivers of vulnerabilities.

Reviews of FDA initiatives and activities recapitulate efforts to assess and approve new drugs, generic drugs, and biologics and strategies for advancing new initiatives.

The UK government is taking advantage of the new regulatory flexibility, afforded by Brexit, to boost the country’s competitiveness in pharma.

FDA moves recommended timeline for API and drug manufacturers to assess impurity risks to March 31, 2021.

Distribution of the first one-dose vaccine for COVID-19 to start in early March.

To prevent future production delays of critical products, the Biden administration is examining supply chain vulnerabilities for pharmaceutical ingredients as part of a longer-range consideration of products important to public health.