Waiting for New Words on Pharmacogenomics

FDA is near to issuing revisions to its draft guidance on pharmacogenomics. The biggest issues center around how to validate emerging biomarkers. The update should: further define the process for using markers in an NDA; call for a new genomics advisory committee; define the role of the committee that will look at voluntary submissions in the aggregate; and add clarity to the preferred data format for voluntary submission. The agency is expected to sidestep the issue of different standards for treating non-clinical and clinical biomarkers.