Updates by Reed Smith on U.S. legislative & regulatory developments affecting the health care industry
In a March 11 advisory opinion the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) permitted a medical device manufacturer to pay Medicare-reimbursable costs for subjects enrolled in a clinical trial sponsored by the manufacturer and involving the manufacturer’s therapy.
The OIG indicated it would not impose administrative sanctions, despite the fact…
On August 31, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued draft guidance regarding principles for selecting, developing, modifying, and adapting patient-reported outcome instruments for use in medical device evaluation.[1] Patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments facilitate the systematic collection of how patients feel and function during a clinical trial. FDA recognizes this information as important…
On June 17, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continued its efforts to mitigate COVID-19’s disrupting impact on clinical trials by issuing guidance on statistical considerations for changes to trial conduct (FDA previously relaxed restrictions on protocol modifications). As expected, public health measures designed to control COVID-19’s rapid emergence as a global pandemic—social distancing, travel…
As previously reported, President Obama has signed into law the 21st Century Cures Act (PL 114-255), which is intended to spur the discovery and availability of new medical treatments. Reed Smith has prepared a client alert summarizing the major drug, device, and biologic development and approval provisions contained in the Cures Act. The…
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has finalized the requirements for submitting clinical trial information for applicable clinical trials of drug products (including biological products) and device products on ClinicalTrials.gov. The rule is intended to clarify as well as establish additional procedures and requirements for submitting: (i) registration, (ii) summary results, and (iii) adverse event information for such applicable clinical trials.
According to NIH, the expanded registry and results data bank will “help patients find trials for which they might be eligible, enhance the design of clinical trials and prevent duplication of unsuccessful or unsafe trials, improve the evidence base that informs clinical care, increase the efficiency of drug and device development processes, improve clinical research practice, and build public trust in clinical research.” Among other things, the final rule:…
Continue Reading NIH Finalizes New Drug and Device Clinical Trial Reporting Requirements
On November 16, 2015, the House of Representatives approved HR 639, the Improving Regulatory Transparency for New Medical Therapies Act, clearing it for the President. The legislation would amend the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to make procedural changes intended to improve the efficiency, transparency, and consistency of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) process for…
On October 7, 2015, President Obama signed into law H.R. 1624, which amends the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) definition of “small employer” by maintaining the definition of a small group market as 1-50 employees and thus reducing the number of employers covered by certain new health insurance coverage requirements set to go into effect…
On October 20, 2015, the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) is hosting a public town hall meeting to respond to questions related to its September 8, 2015 proposed rule that would modernize HHS regulations governing human research subjects under the Common Rule. The registration deadline for…
On September 28, 2015, the House of Representatives approved by voice vote S. 139, the Ensuring Access to Clinical Trials Act. This legislation would allow individuals to participate in clinical trials for rare diseases without counting the income earned from these trials against their eligibility for Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income. The legislation, which…
Two Congressional committees are holding hearings this week on health policy issues. First, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has scheduled a September 16, 2015 hearing on “Achieving the Promise of Health Information Technology: Improving Care Through Patient Access to Their Records.” The HELP Committee also will hold a September 17 hearing on “Biosimilar Implementation: A Progress Report from FDA.” Second, on September 18 the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee will examine four Medicaid bills:…
Continue Reading Congressional Hearings to Focus on Health IT, Biosimilars, Medicaid Program Legislation
On September 2, 2015, sixteen federal departments and agencies, including the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a proposed rule to modernize regulations governing human research subjects under the Common Rule (45 C.F.R. Part 46). Under the current regulations, the Common Rule applies to all research involving human subjects that is conducted or supported by a federal department or agency that has adopted the policy. Subject to only specified exemptions, the proposed rule extends the Common Rule’s requirements to all clinical trials regardless of funding source if: (1) the clinical trial is not regulated by the FDA, and (2) is performed at a US institution that receives any support from a federal agency. Other major changes introduced in the proposed rule include:…
Continue Reading Agencies Release Proposed Overhaul of the Common Rule
Today the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved H.R. 6, the “21st Century Cures Act,” by a bipartisan, unanimous 51-0 vote. This major legislation is intended to accelerate the pace of medical cures in the United States through a variety of reforms addressing drug and device development and approval, clinical trial design, research funding, interoperability…
On April 28, 2015, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized three guidances for industry on developing biosimilar drugs. The guidances, which follow the FDA’s first approval of a biosimilar drug in March, are intended to clarify both scientific and regulatory considerations for a broad range of stakeholders, including drug companies, in manufacturing biosimilars.…
As discussed on our Life Sciences Legal Update blog, the FDA has released draft guidance clarifying its acceptance of medical device clinical data from studies conducted outside of the United States. The draft guidance highlights special considerations that apply when using foreign clinical data, including applicability to populations within the US, and provides recommendations…
As discussed on our sister blog, Life Sciences Legal Update, the FDA has published a notice soliciting comments on a draft guidance document on the use of electronic media and processes to obtain informed consent for FDA-regulated clinical investigations of medical products. The HHS Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) also is considering…
On January 27, 2015, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released its “21st Century Cures Act” discussion draft, the product of a year-long, bipartisan effort by the Committee to accelerate the pace of medical cures in the United States. The nearly 400-page bill addresses a wide range of topics, including, among many other things: the…
NIH has just released a proposed rule that would clarify and expand requirements for the submission of clinical trial registration and results information, including adverse event information, to the ClinicalTrials.gov database in conformance with the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA). The rule would implement the statutory requirement for the submission of…
On October 24, 2014, the HHS Office for Human Research Protections published a notice announcing that it is seeking comments on draft guidance for the research community entitled “Guidance on Disclosing Reasonably Foreseeable Risks in Research Evaluating Standards of Care.” The guidance addresses risks to subjects that are presented by research evaluating risks…
Earlier this summer, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a draft 42-page “Informed Consent Information Sheet” that provides guidance for institutional review boards (IRBs), clinical investigators, and clinical trial sponsors on complying with the Agency’s informed consent regulations. Once finalized, the draft guidance will supersede FDA’s previous Information Sheet on this topic, “A Guide to Informed Consent,” which was last updated over 15 years ago, in 1998. The guidance, which is a compilation of FDA’s regulations and past guidances on informed consent, also reflects the Agency’s coordinated efforts with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to facilitate consistency across informed consent requirements and policies among federal government agencies.
Broadly, the new guidance indicates FDA policy shifting towards enhanced informed consent processes. More narrowly, the draft guidance explains the various and often caveated elements of informed consent (including providing patients with a description of the trial, its risks, benefits, alternative treatments, confidentiality and compensation in the event of injury), depicts the detailed responsibilities of IRBs, clinical investigators and sponsors of clinical trials (including compliance with the process, elements and documentation of informed consent), and provides examples of recommended language to assist industry parties in complying with FDA’s informed consent regulations. FDA accomplishes this task by clarifying some aspects of existing guidance and creating additional guidance in new areas.
The following provides an overview of some of the draft guidance’s notable new and revised provisions.…
Continue Reading FDA Seeks Comments to Updated Guidance on Informed Consent in Clinical Trials
The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health is seeking comments on a draft bill, the Protecting Integrity in Medicare Act of 2014, that is “aimed at combating fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare program.” The bill covers a range of Medicare and Medicaid policies, from establishing new alternative sanctions for technical physician self-referral violations to providing more flexibility in meeting durable medical equipment (DME) documentation requirements. Among other things, the bill would:
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Continue Reading Ways and Means Committee Seeks Comments on Medicare Program Integrity Bill
