Despite the threatening rhetoric, the early years of the Biden Administration largely followed previous regimes with respect to antitrust enforcement in the life sciences space. Pharmaceutical transactions in particular encounters the expected amount of agency scrutiny, with most proceeding without an extended investigation and, in contrast to deals in the…
Our Life Sciences Regulatory & Compliance team has launched a new resource page, keeping you up-to-date on the latest regulatory developments affecting laboratory developed tests (LDTs). Our dedicated LDT page provides foundational materials, legislative and regulatory history, and updates and analyses regarding initiatives to increase oversight over LDTs, including FDA’s…
The third quarter in the life sciences space saw notable developments in significant agency enforcement actions: The FTC abandoned its pursuit of a novel theory and settled its Amgen/Horizon lawsuit 10 days before the scheduled preliminary injunction hearing. As detailed below, the settlement is fairly modest in scope and embraces…
On October 23, 2023, FDA announced the availability of a revised draft guidance titled “Communications From Firms to Health Care Providers Regarding Scientific Information on Unapproved Uses of Approved/Cleared Medical Products.” The draft guidance supersedes the agency’s 2014 draft guidance, “Distributing Scientific and Medical Publications on Unapproved New Uses,” and…
On October 10, 2023, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) issued a consolidated decision in cases G1/22 and G2/22 clarifying a common issue regarding the validity of a priority claim made at the EPO. Per the Board of Appeal, there is a rebuttable presumption that an Applicant claiming…
Last month, FDA issued a Request for Information (RFI) in the Federal Register seeking information and comments from interested stakeholders regarding “critical scientific challenges and opportunities to advance the development of individualized cellular and gene therapies (CGTs).” Individualized CGTs are therapies “developed for a single patient (or a very small…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced an upcoming webinar on its proposed rule on the regulation of laboratory developed tests (LDTs). The webinar is scheduled for October 31, 2023 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET and will include an overview of the proposed rule, a description of…
After an over decade-long discourse amongst interested stakeholders, on October 3, 2023, FDA unveiled its proposed rule and policy to increase oversight over LDTs. If finalized as proposed, FDA would implement a new “phaseout policy” that would, across five stages and within four years, apply the same regulatory requirements applicable to in…
Summary: On September 29, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia vacated a Trump-era rule from 2021 that allowed insurers to exclude drug manufacturer co-pay support coupons and assistance from a patient’s annual cost-sharing caps. This practice, commonly referred to as a copay accumulator program, is typically…
On October 3, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published its widely anticipated proposed rule on the regulation of laboratory developed tests (LDTs). The proposed rule and policy are the latest in an over decade-long discourse amongst interested stakeholders – laboratories, IVD manufacturers, regulatory agencies, Congress, providers, and patients –…