I recently attended the ISPE Annual Meeting, held October 29 through November 2, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. The conference had varied content in areas such as Digital Transformation, Manufacturing Trends, Regulatory and Quality, Supply Chain Optimization, and Therapy Innovations. The conference was well attended by both industry and regulators. Although I found all of the […]
At the first highly attended ISPE Annual meeting since the pandemic hit, the themes that kept emerging from both sessions and attendees was convergence and collaboration. This concept reached its peak at the sessions that ended this conference, with a keynote from Peter Marks, MD/PhD, Director, CBER, FDA, the Regulatory Town Hall featuring representation from […]
The 2022 PDA Universe of Pre-Filled Syringes and Injection Devices conference was held in Palm Springs, CA, October 18-19, 2022. In attendance were some of the world’s largest providers in this combination space which included innovators, pharmaceutical companies, suppliers of injectable devices and contracted service providers. The conference speakers presented on a variety of topics […]
The schedules for the 2023 Prescription Drug User Fees (PDUFA) (here), Biosimilar User Fees (BSUFA) (here), and Medical Device User Fees (MDUFA) (here) have been posted and are scheduled for final publication on October 7, 2022. However, the Generic Drug User fees (GDUFA) FR Notice has a stark word “WITHDRAWN” on the prepublication page with the […]
With the long-awaited FDA final rule on OTC hearing aids entitled Medical Devices; Ear, Nose, and Throat Devices; Establishing Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids is now on the books, the Agency has issued a final guidance (here) on these products which explains the differences between, and the new regulatory framework for both hearing aids and personal sound […]
The FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health issued two guidance documents to address the transition plans for device EUAs issued during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). The first guidance is titled Transition Plan for Medical Devices Issued Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency and the companion […]
In a news release on November 15th (here), the FDA announced that ”the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services withdrew a policy that directed FDA not to enforce premarket review requirements for laboratory developed tests (LDTs). This action will help ensure that COVID-19 tests are accurate and reliable.” The Trump policy was a misguided […]
In a Federal Register Notice scheduled to publish on Monday August 9, 2021 (see prepublication notice here), FDA indicates “[O]n April 16, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued its decision in Genus Med. Techs., LLC v. FDA, 2021 U.S. App. Lexis 10928 (April 16, 2021). The U.S. Government […]
Interoperability in healthcare has been discussed for decades and is one the greatest challenges to be overcome in medicine. Not only because technical barriers exist, but because physicians practice medicine and research continue to push the boundaries, creating new terms to be defined and understood. In addition, the rate of this is accelerating (witness the […]
What engineer enjoys writing Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) documents, such as a Software Requirements Specification or SFMEA? I have yet to meet one that has the passion to sit and document the requirements. While there are numerous purposes and reasons for documenting the requirements, the greatest value is in the process that leads up […]