On April 2, the FDA issued a warning letter to Agena Bioscience Inc., alleging its product, intended for research use only (RUO), was promoted for clinical purposes and thus violated the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.Continue Reading FDA Warning Letter Regulates “Research Only” Labels
Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) issued a draft guidance, “Key Information and Facilitating Understanding in Informed Consent”, with notable implications for clinical trial sponsors, investigators, and Institutional Review Boards.[i] The guidance provides suggestions on which topics of information should be included in the key information section of an informed consent as well as how information can be presented and formatted in an informed consent to aid prospective subjects’ understanding of a clinical trial.Continue Reading Time to Refresh? FDA Issues Draft Guidance on Key Information and Informed Consent
On January 18, 2024, the Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its first untitled letter of the new year to Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (Novartis) regarding a promotional, direct-to-consumer broadcast advertisement (TV Ad) for KISQALI® (ribociclib) tablets, for oral use, indicated for the treatment of adult patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer in combination with:Continue Reading FDA’s Office of Prescription Drug Promotion Issues Its First Untitled Letter of the Year to Novartis for Misleading Statement Relating to KISQALI®
In one of the last guidances released in 2023, the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized guidance for direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertisements, specifically advertisements in television and radio format (CCN Final Rule Guidance). The CCN Final Rule Guidance was released to advise small entities seeking to understand and comply with the standards established in the final rule, “Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertisements: Presentation of the Major Statement in a Clear, Conspicuous, and Neutral Manner in Advertisements in Television and Radio Format” (CCN Final Rule).Continue Reading FDA Issues Final Rule and Guidance on Direct-To-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertisements
On October 23, 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) published a new draft guidance, titled Communications From Firms to Health Care Providers Regarding Scientific Information on Unapproved Uses of Approved/Cleared Medical Products, Questions and Answers (the “2023 Draft Guidance”). The 2023 Draft Guidance is a revision to, and builds upon, FDA’s 2014 draft guidance on the same issue, Distributing Scientific and Medical Publications on Unapproved New Uses — Recommended Practices, which itself was a revision to FDA’s 2009 guidance, Good Reprint Practices for the Distribution of Medical Journal Articles and Medical or Scientific Reference Publications on Unapproved New Uses of Approved Drugs and Approved or Cleared Medical Devices. Drug and device manufacturers (“firms”) will note that in the 2023 Draft Guidance, FDA introduces multiple new concepts. Addition of terms such as “SIUU Communications” and “Firm-Generated Presentations” appear to broaden the possibilities for firms’ communications with healthcare providers (“HCPs”) while inclusion of concepts such as “scientifically sound” and “clinically relevant” can be read as imposing certain limitations on what can be included in SIUU Communications. FDA’s inclusion of these new concepts provides both guidance and guardrails for firms to ensure SIUU Communications with HCPs stay in line with FDA regulatory requirements. With the 2023 Draft Guidance, FDA continues to be thoughtful and intentional with its views on communications between firms and HCPs, and demonstrates to industry that the agency will continue to evolve its thinking with the advent of new technologies, advancements in science, medicine, and the delivery of care, and in light of the ever-changing modes and methods of communication.Continue Reading From Good Reprint Practices to SIUU Communications: What Firms Need to Know
Within a month of California becoming the first state in the nation to ban manufacturing with, selling, or distributing food items that contain brominated vegetable oil (BVO), FDA has proposed to revoke the regulation authorizing the use of BVO in food as an additive. Continue Reading FDA Moves to End Use of Brominated Vegetable Oil in Food
Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA” or “the Agency”) issued a highly anticipated proposed rule outlining the regulatory framework and implementation plan for Laboratory Developed Tests (“LDTs”).[1] The history of LDT regulatory status is long and meandering—and summarized below—but in short, FDA has for a long time exercised enforcement discretion over LDTs.Continue Reading FDA’s Proposed Rule on LDT Regulation and the Debate over Agency Deference
On September 19, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA” or “the Agency”) published a draft guidance, Regulatory Considerations for Prescription Drug Use-Related Software (the “Guidance”) which adds a piece to the ever-expanding puzzle that is FDA’s regulatory scheme for digital health products. The Guidance clarifies how FDA plans to apply its drug labeling regulations to software products that “supplement, explain, or otherwise textually relate to” the use of a prescription drug. As most of FDA’s recent regulatory activity with respect to medical software regulation has been in the device space, this Guidance represents a concerted focus by the Agency to unify its approach to digital health across all regulated categories (e.g., drugs, biologics, and devices).Continue Reading FDA Clarifies Labeling Expectations for Prescription Drug Use-Related Software
On August 4, 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (“OPDP”) issued a Warning Letter to AstraZeneca which stated that the company made misleading claims in a promotional sales aid about the effectiveness of BREZTRI AEROSPHERE™ (“Breztri”). Given that it has been almost a year and half since OPDP issued a Warning Letter (the last Warning Letter was issued in February 2022), the takeaways here are significant for industry and provide insight into how FDA will examine efficacy claims that are so-called “consistent with label” and require compliance with FDA’s June 2018 guidance (the “CFL Guidance”).[1],[2] Going forward, we expect the agency’s focus to remain on product communications to the public—to either a general consumer or professional audience—and whether those communications include essential contextual information to avoid the potential that such claims could be viewed as misleading.Continue Reading Context is Key: FDA Sends a Strong Message About Efficacy Claims
On August 11, 2023, the Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an untitled letter to Exeltis USA Inc. (Exeltis) regarding a promotional social media sponsored post for SLYND® (drospirenone) oral progestin tablets, indicated for use by females of reproductive potential to prevent pregnancy (Slynd).[1] The post appeared on Facebook,[2] and, in addition to being false and misleading, also was not submitted to OPDP at the time of publication as required by FDA regulations. This is only the second untitled letter from OPDP of the year, both of which have focused on false and misleading promotional messaging.Continue Reading FDA’s Office of Prescription Drug Promotion Issues Second Untitled Letter of the Year to Exeltis for Misleading Statements Relating to SLYND®