[Note, this is Part 2 in an ongoing series of posts exploring substantive aspects of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-328) (referred to hereafter as 2023 CAA). Part 1, available here, covered changes in Medicare payment rates.]

Buried in the “Miscellaneous” chapter of Subtitle F (“Cross-Cutting Provisions”) of the Food and Drug Administration Title (Title III) of the 2023 CAA is Section 3630, a provision without a short title called “Facilitating exchange of product information prior to approval.”

This provision was originally proposed as the Pre-approval Information Exchange Act (or PIE Act) in March 2022 and was included in the House version of the Food and Drug Administration user fee legislation before being dropped from that legislation along with almost all other policy riders in a deal to get the FDA User Fee program approved before it expired.

But the same language was included in the 2023 CAA that was signed into law on Dec. 29, 2022. And again, while it was not directly entitled as such in the law, it is the PIE Act and that is how this post will refer to it. So, exactly what is the PIE Act and what does it do?  Before assuming there is “PIE” for everyone, read more for important content on the boundaries of this law, and remaining challenges for companies seeking to exchange information under this statutory authority.Continue Reading Health Provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023: Part 2 The PIE Act