Three circuit court decisions issued in the past two weeks have considered the CMS vaccine mandate, bringing the issue – and similar vaccine mandate lawsuits – to the Supreme Court in the final weeks of the year. The CMS mandate generally requires that facilities certified to participate in Medicare or Medicaid ensure their staff are fully vaccinated against COVID unless the employee is exempt for medical or religious reasons. CMS issued the vaccine mandate on November 5, 2021. It went into effect immediately, with staff to be fully vaccinated by January 4, 2022.
Mary E. Hershewe
Articles by Mary E. Hershewe:
FDA Issues Draft Guidance for Sponsors and Other Stakeholders on Using Registries as RWD to Support Regulatory Decision-Making
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its third draft guidance under the Real-World Evidence (RWE) Program on November 29, 2021. In Real-World Data: Assessing Registries to Support Regulatory Decision-Making for Drugs and Biological Products, the FDA discusses considerations for sponsors and other stakeholders when designing or using an existing registry as RWD to support a regulatory decision about the safety and effectiveness of a medicine or biologic.
The goal of the RWE program, in part, is to satisfy Congress’s mandate under section 505F of the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) for the FDA to provide more guidance about the use of RWE in regulatory decision-making. We discussed the FDA’s first and second guidances, released in August and October 2021, here and here.
FDA Releases Draft Guidance for Sponsors on How to Comply with Study Data Standards When Submitting RWD-Sourced Study Data
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a draft guidance titled Data Standards for Drug and Biological Product Submissions Containing Real-World Data on October 21, 2021. The guidance provides the Agency’s thoughts on how sponsors can comply with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) when submitting “certain” applications that contain study data derived from real-world data (RWD) sources. The FDA acknowledges that its current study data standards do not necessarily reflect a process derived from RWD sources. However, sponsors will need to convert RWD into established study data standards when submitting this information as part of a regulatory application (a process called “mapping”).
For context, study data standards are documented guidelines to help with the exchange of clinical and nonclinical study data between computer systems. They are used to provide a consistent framework for organizing study data (such as templates for datasets, standard names for variables, how to do calculations with common variables, and so on).
FDA Posts Draft Guidance for Pharma Companies, Sponsors, and Researchers on Using Real-World Data from Health Records in Clinical Studies
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a draft guidance for pharmaceutical companies, sponsors, and researchers sourcing Real World Data (RWD) from health records. As the FDA’s first attempt to define guidelines on sourcing RWD, the draft document provides insight into the FDA’s current thinking on the approach that companies should use to support regulatory filings for medications.
The guidance references the Framework for Real World Evidence Program, released in December 2018. The Framework is designed to regulate uses of RWD and Real Word Evidence (RWE), which are used by life sciences companies to investigate how medicines perform beyond clinical trials, and to back up clinical trial results. This draft guidance is the first of the series that have been promised by the FDA to develop the Framework. More information about the FDA Framework can be found on our blog here.
FDA issues final rule clarifying its “intended use” regulations for pharmaceuticals and medical devices
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.
Ninth Circuit’s Ingredients List Rule Keeps Nestlé in Hot Water with Denial of Nestlé’s Statute of Limitations-Based Summary Judgment Motion
The Northern District of California recently applied the Ninth Circuit’s ingredients list rule in a putative class action decision. The Court refused to grant Nestlé USA Inc.’s summary judgment motion based on the statute of limitations in a suit involving allegations that Nestlé misleads consumers about the trans-fat content of their Coffee Mate creamer products. The Court held that a triable issue of fact remained because it was not clear when the consumer first learned about the alleged deception.