Regulatory Oversight and Compliance

The agency and the European Commission published updated guidance to answer questions about Brexit.

During the November meeting of the agency’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee, review of Esmya (ulipristal acetate) was announced as well as warnings about prostate cancer treatments.

Biopharma majors are among the industry stakeholders who have commented and raised questions about FDA’s recently proposed draft guidance for analytical assessment of similarity in biosimilars.

FDA has approved Mylan’s biosimilar to Roche’s blockbuster anti-cancer biologic, Herceptin.

The European Commission’s effort to relax supplementary protection certificates to help generic-drug makers and biosimilars producers has sparked strong opposition from the research-based pharmaceutical sector.

SOPs need to reflect a company’s specific manufacturing or other operations, says Susan Schniepp, distinguished fellow at Regulatory Compliance Associates.

New gene therapies and combination products require innovative regulatory approaches.

In a recently released statement, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb warned of an amino acids supply shortage and gave an update on a saline supply shortage, both due to the impact of hurricanes on Puerto Rican manufacturing facilities.

Experts slam drug prices and endorse government price negotiations and curbs on drug advertising.

Manufacturers and trading partners struggle to meet drug tracking requirements

The new guidelines discuss GMPs and patient protection specific to advanced therapy medicinal products.

Following a vote by member states in favor of Amsterdam as the agency’s new headquarters, the relocation will take place over the next 16 months, with operations expected to start up in March 2019.

The agency has approved a biologic-based new molecular entity for treating hemophilia A and has expanded the indication for a leukemia drug to now treat a common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, outlined a plan to support innovation of regenerative medicines while ensuring public safety.

Commissioner Scott Gottlieb issued a statement warning about the risks associated with kratom.

The agency approved Abilify MyCite, a pill with a sensor that digitally tracks if patients have ingested their medication.

Two of the medicines recommended for approval are orphan drugs.

The EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended marketing authorization approval for AstraZeneca’s benralizumab, a monoclonal antibody for treating severe asthma.

The company expects to commercially launch the new vaccine in the US in the first quarter of 2018.

FDA is exploring ways to keep branded drug companies from using REMS to block the development of generic drugs.

The debate continues over biosimilar naming, interchangeability, and patent protection, as well as lingering concerns in the medical community about the safety of switching patients to new therapies.

While most pharma companies are in partial production using generators, few are operating at 100% capacity.

The agency published guidance regarding OTC aspirin products that have cardiovascular-related images in their labels.

The agency gave Breakthrough Therapy Designation to GSK’s GSK2857916 monotherapy for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have failed at least three prior lines of therapy.

FDA sent warning letters to four companies illegally selling products online that claim to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure cancer without evidence to support these statements.