The FDA issued a final rule (RIN 0910-A147) on August 2, 2021, to clarify its “intended use” regulations for pharmaceutical products and medical devices — 21 CFR §201.128 (drugs) and 21 CFR §801.4 (devices). The final rule will go into effect on September 1, 2021.
The new rule may provide an end to a years-long process on knowledge-based labeling directives in the old regulations. Proposed amendments to clarify the “intended use” regulations began in 2015, which we discussed previously.
On July 28, the FDA approved the country’s first interchangeable biosimilar product. Semglee (insulin glargine-yfgn) is both biosimilar to, and interchangeable with, its reference product Lantus (insulin glargine).
Under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA), biological products (e.g., vaccines and therapeutic antibodies) may come to market by showing that they are “biosimilar” to or “interchangeable” with a “reference product,” which is a biological product that has already been approved by the FDA. A biological product is “biosimilar” if it is “highly similar to the reference product notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive components” and “there are no clinically meaningful differences between the biological product and the reference product in terms of the safety, purity, and potency of the product.” 42 U.S.C. § 262(i)(2). To date, 28 biological products have been approved as biosimilars.
Continue reading “FDA Approves First Interchangeable Biological Product Under BPCIA”
Over the last four months, we have tracked the District of New Jersey’s proposal and adoption of a new Local Civil Rule – L. Civ. R. 7.1.1 – requiring lawyers to disclose details about third-party litigation funding. The Clerk of the District of New Jersey has now issued a Notice to the Bar clarifying that this new Rule only requires the filing of a statement where third-party litigation funding exists.
