Generics

A December 10, 2014 petition filed by Wiley Rein LLP on behalf of Acura Pharmaceuticals (here) asks the FDA to require Purdue to file an ANDA rather than a 505(b)(2) application for a duplicate version of an immediate release oxycodone tablet with abuse-deterrent properties. The petitioner argues that,because the abuse-deterrent characteristics of the proposed Purdue product are similar to those of its Oxecta product, and because both products are pharmaceutical equivalents, that a firm should not be able to circumvent the listed patents on the Oxecta reference listed drug (RLD).

Just weeks after the Office of Generic Drugs (OGD ) released a revised bioequivalence (BE) guidance for extended-release generic equivalents of Concerta and took action to revise the therapeutic equivalence code for the two generic approved products to BX (non-substitutable/not therapeutically equivalent), OGD released a new fairly onerous draft BE guidance for Budesonide Extended-Release Tablets.

It is clear that the Office of Generic Drugs (OGD) wants to assure that first-time generic submissions also translate into first-time generic approvals. In FY 2013, OGD approved a total of 440 ANDAs. Of that total, there were 108 ANDAs reported on the OGD First-Time Generic Drug Approval lists for the year. So it appears that OGD’s goal of getting first time approvals to the American public as quickly as possible at least translates into the percentage of first-time generic approvals (e.g., 1 in 4 ANDA approvals in FY 2013 was for a first-time generic approval of the product or 25%).

nother page in the history of the generic drug program turns at the end of this month. Bob West, former Deputy Director of the Office of Generic Drugs (OGD) will retire at the end of this month after about 37 years of government service.

After checking the generic drug approvals on FDA’s website today, I was disappointed to see that OGD only approved 11 ANDAs in the month of November. Prior to this, the lowest month was July 2014 when OGD approved only 18 ANDAs. This comes after October’s encouraging numbers, with OGD issuing 45 ANDA approvals.

We are almost two months into FY 2015 and the first year of metrics for GDUFA, but have you noticed that the Generics Activity Report of the Generic Drug Program has not yet published for the October? As we understand it, the new OGD/CDER IT platform, noted by Dr. Woodcock as having some problems at the GPhA Fall Technical Workshop, is perhaps the culprit.