Almost two and a half months after the beginning of FY 2024, the first month of FY 2024 (October 2023) statistics appeared, almost like a Christmas present! And from the looks of the numbers, there is likely some coal in some of the statistical “stockings.” Let’s start with the Original ANDA approval numbers. The OGD did pretty […]
This has been a long time coming! Ever since the first approval of isotretinoin (Accutane – by Hoffmann La Roche, Inc. on May 7, 1982), and the associated safety requirements associated with that product’s labeling, the requirements for the safe use of isotretinoin products have become stricter. This type of safety information and requirements for […]
Yesterday, the FDA issued the first revision of the Guidance titled Presenting Quantitative Efficacy and Risk Information in Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Promotional Labeling and Advertisements (here). This Guidance covers the following four topics: Providing quantitative efficacy or risk information for the control group, when applicable; Presenting probability information in terms of absolute frequencies, percentages, and relative […]
An FDA notice contained in the Federal Register (FR) notice prepublication pages today (here) has put the final kibosh on the use of ciprofloxacin 100mg tablets due to current evidence demonstrating that the increased resistance of Escherichia coli (E. coli) to the low strength of ciprofloxacin makes it no longer effective for treatment of acute […]
The bulk of microbiology attention in the drug manufacturing world is laser focused on sterile drug products and the myriad steps needed to aseptically manufacture them. That is certainly with good reason as those drug products carry the highest patient risk should there be microbial contamination. One aseptic manufacturing misstep and the consequences could be […]
In an article published in Fierce Pharma today (here), Kevin Dunleavy pointed to a congressional letter (here), penned by Congresswoman Lisa McClain, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, that questions the long lag time for the FDA and its advisory committee to come to the conclusion that phenylephrine, as an oral decongestant, does […]
The FDA is warning about a serious and potentially fatal adverse event that has been reported with use of the antiseizure medications levetiracetam (Keppra, Keppra XR, Elepsia XR, Spritam) and clobazam (Onfi, Sympazan). The ADE, called Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS), is extremely rare and the “FDA’s cumulative review found 42 serious […]
Not sure what is taking the FDA so long to fix the system “glitch” in reporting ANDA approval actions, but this has been going on for quite a while. Here we are, the day before Thanksgiving, and there are only 14 full ANDA approval actions and 9 tentative approval actions listed in the available FDA […]
Bring up the recently updated and finalized EU Annex 1 – Manufacture of Sterile Medicinal Drug Products (here) in polite pharmaceutical water cooler conversation and a frequent topic that comes up is the Contamination Control Strategy (CCS) language. Buzzwords abound for a “holistic”, “global”, or “wholesale” CCS to be incorporated into all elements of aseptic […]
On November 7, 2023, a press release from the FTC announced that “the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) challenged more than 100 patents held by manufacturers of brand-name asthma inhalers, epinephrine autoinjectors, and other drug products as improperly or inaccurately listed in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) publication of “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations,” […]
