For years, the FDA has been concerned about running out of numbers for the National Drug Code (NDC) to use to identify drug products. They estimate that their runway for exhausting all NDC number combinations may come in 10-15 years. Well, FDA published a proposed rule entitled Revising the National Drug Code Format and Drug […]
You may need some time to read this recently published guidance entitled, Safety Considerations for Container Labels and Carton Labeling Design to Minimize Medication Errors (here), as it is 41 pages long. There is lots of good information contained in the document and, while it may contain most of what you know about labeling requirements, […]
In previous posts here and here, we outlined the attack on the carveout provisions of the Hatch-Waxman Act (also lovingly known as the “skinny label”) that the crafters of the Act included to ensure that generic drugs could get to consumers if there were certain patents or exclusivity issues that would otherwise block entry into […]
Today, the FDA released its draft guidance entitled Oral Drug Products Administered Via Enteral Feeding Tube: In Vitro Testing and Labeling Recommendations Guidance for Industry (here). There have been numerous cases of clogging or otherwise blocking of enteral naso-gastric (N-G) feeding tubes when medication is administered due to a number of different reasons: swelling of […]
Just nine (9) days ago, I posted a blog and article (here) on the issue of paper prescribing information – package inserts! The overall takeaway was that FDA is ready to move on this issue. There was a proposed rule sitting dormant, because every year since its proposal, e Congress has included a provision in […]
An article in STAT (here) (paid subscription required), authored by a former FDAer, Jane Axelrad, should be read by all in the pharmaceutical industry. Axelrad notes that, while online access to current prescribing information has been available for over fifteen years, progress in eliminating the requirement to provide paper labels has been stymied by paper […]
Proposed Law Would Provide Pathway for Generic Drugs Labeling Changes with a Reasoned Approach Proposed H.R. 5668 (here) titled, Making Objective Drug Evidence Revisions for New Labeling Act of 2020, outlines a path forward for making generic drug labeling changes when the reference listed drug is no longer marketed. We all understand the history of […]
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a joint statement on Monday, February 3, 2020 (here) regarding their collaborative plans to advance competition in the biologics market. This joint effort is intended to address misinformation and anti-competitive behavior that may impede competition between biologic drug products. A significant focus […]
Today, the FDA released a guidance document titled Promotional Labeling and Advertising Considerations for Prescription Biological Reference and Biosimilar Products: Questions and Answers (here). The document provides the FDA’s responses to eight questions designed to help firms assure that they do not run afoul in advertising or promotion when describing similarities and differences between the […]
Just look around, watch the television, read the newspaper, and what do you see? Seems like very few reasons to be thankful. School and workplace shootings, the political scene is as nasty as I ever remember in my 70 years on earth. Climate change is threatening the future of our children, and the environmental controls […]