The three-year long process towards a class-wide Risk Evaluation & Mitigation Strategy has been anything but straightforward. Still, the final twist may be the most surprising: FDA is now espousing the most industry-friendly approach on the table. The details of the opioid REMS will take months to work out and years to judge, but understanding the choices made in crafting this policy are a critical starting point.
By Michael McCaughan
Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too?
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The remarks from the new CBER director suggest Prasad will not be involved in most product-specific decisions.
CBER's Nicole Verdun wants rare disease sponsors with stalled treatments to circle back because the FDA's evolved thinking on clinical trial designs may offer another opportunity for cast away products.
The White House requested $6.8bn for the FDA, down 3.9% from the current funding level, but does not propose any legislative changes. In previous years, the agency used the budget process to seek statutory fixes specific to generic drugs and shortages.
The reductions across medical product programs in the agency’s budget request include hundreds of positions funded by user fees, which may foreshadow its upcoming user fee restructuring strategy.
The remarks from the new CBER director suggest Prasad will not be involved in most product-specific decisions.
A UK research team has used artificial intelligence to find new treatments for cancer using existing US Food and Drug Administration-approved medicines that are not normally not used for the disease.
The US Medicare Payment Advisory Commission worries that Medicare prescription drug market trends may cause the stand-alone plan portion of the program to “wither away,” which could take the traditional fee-for-service side of Medicare with it.
