- Gottlieb Proposes Modernization of Drug Review Office (biopharminternational.com)
...FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, announced that the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research would be taking steps to modernize the organization and functions of the Office of New Drugs in order to address scientific and medical advances within the industry. The goal is to make the review process more integrated across science and regulatory expertise. Janet Woodcock, director of CDER, plans on elevating the role of FDA scientists and medical officers and providing these officers with more tools and support “to advance the clinical and regulatory principles that the FDA uses to evaluate new drugs for safety and efficacy.”...Other changes will include the development of guidance documents, giving review staff more time with sponsors, and getting sponsors involved earlier in the development process. Engaging disease specialists, academic researchers, regulatory partners at other agencies, and patient groups is also a goal of CDER.
- FDA Starts Showing Its Plans for Oversight of Pharmacy Compounding (ashp.org)
This spring and summer, FDA revealed in several guidance documents what the agency thinks pharmacy compounding should look like now that the relevant provisions in federal law are firmly in place and the agency has a budget for oversight...Some of FDA's ideas, if incorporated into the final versions of the guidances, could be challenging for hospitals and health systems to implement…as hospitals continue to affiliate or form multihospital systems...a plan to centralize compounding activities may need to be reconsidered.
- Guidances, not regulations
- Limits on anticipatory compounding.
- Geographic limit on distribution.
- Address-dependent facility definition.
- No copycats of commercially available products.