28
May

Buyer Beware! That Legitimate Looking Prescription Site May Cost You Your Health

In a coordinated enforcement action involving the FDA, US Customs and Border Patrol, along with international agencies like Interpol and enforcement and regulatory bodies from 111 countries, action was taken against web sites that “sell unapproved prescription drugs to US consumers.” This is part of an ongoing effort of a program termed Operation Pangea.

Read More
28
May

Salonpas Pain Relief Patch Petition Does Not Provide Full Relief Sought by Petitioner

In a petition response issued on May 23, 2014to Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Company, the FDA partially approved, but mostly denied the requests of the NDA holder for Salonpas (menthol and methyl salicylate 3%, 10%) Patch in a petition submitted on January 6, 2010. While the response did not come as much of a surprise relative to the NDA holders asks, the fact that the petition was submitted in 2010 and is just now being responded to is somewhat a matter of conjecture.

Read More
14
May

FDA to Give Industry Heads Up on Finalizing Q&A Guidance on Stability Testing for ANDAs

With about one month to go before the Office of Generic Drugs (OGD) new stability requirements go into effect, a one hour briefing by invitation will be held on May 15, 2014 to discuss the new requirements. It will likely touch on the Draft Questions and Answers Guidance ANDA: Stability of Drug Substance and Drug Products, with (hopefully) an emphasis on any clarifications or revisions that have been made to the final guidance (to be published soon).

Read More
14
May

Revised Q&A on Stability Issued – Clarity Provided on Some Issues But Questions Still Remain

The Revised Q&A Guidance on stability for ANDA drug products and drug substances was posted on the CDER web page today (here). While the Agency did a good job in terms of some of the clarifications requested by questions submitted in response to the initial document, there are still some unanswered questions that may require clarification to the clarifications!

Read More
13
May

FDA Acts to Prevent a Shortage Situation for an Emergency Drug

On May 13, 2014, the FDA took the third in an unusual series of evaluations to extend the expiration date of certain lots of the drug DuoDote Autoinjectors (atropine and pralidoxine chloride), a drug indicated for the initial treatment of poisoning by organophosphorous nerve agents and insecticides. The manufacturer of the drug product notified FDA of problems relative to under-dosing or failure to activate associated with a small number of its autoinjectors. The FDA responded with a letter (here) indicating that the Agency would exercise enforcement discretion and would, based on information provided by the firm, extend the expiration date for one year beyond the current established expiration date. FDA also noted that the firm would not need to revise the expiration date on the actual packaging.

Read More
12
May

Confused About the Force of FDA Draft Guidance? You Are in Good Company!

The issue of when to apply FDA Draft Guidance has always been a bit confusing and sometimes an amusing subject. FDA Guidance (whether in draft or final form) is supposed to represent the FDA’s current thinking on a specific matter. If the Draft Guidance is newly issued and is still within a reasonable comment period, then it may be best to contact FDA to see if the Guidance is likely to change. Sometimes you can look at the comments submitted to the appropriate Docket to see if there appears to be controversial issues raised by the industry or other government components. The real problem comes when a Draft Guidance is issued and the comment period has passed and months or years go by where the Guidance just sits there in limbo before being finalized.

Read More
1 2