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Health policy has been the focus of several House Energy and Commerce Committee hearings this month.  Notably, the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee held its first legislative hearing on cannabis policy, although much of the hearing focused on the status of marijuana research under the Controlled Substances Act, as discussed in a recent Reed…

October Congressional hearings have focused on the following health policy topics:

  • A House Ways and Means Committee hearing addressed “Investing in the U.S. Health System by Lowering Drug Prices, Reducing Out-of-Pocket Costs, and Improving Medicare Benefits.”
  • A House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, “Sabotage: The Trump Administration’s Attack on Health Care,” featured testimony from CMS

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The Senate has overwhelmingly approved S. 524, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which includes a number of provisions to prevent drug abuse, treat addiction, and reduce overdose deaths. Major provisions include: additional prevention and education efforts to prevent opioid and heroin abuse; expanded law enforcement and first responder access to the overdose-reversal drug…

On September 8, 2015, the House of Representatives approved the following bipartisan bills by voice vote: 

  • H.R. 1344, the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act of 2015 – to reauthorize a program for early detection, diagnosis and treatment regarding deaf and hard-of-hearing newborns, infants, and young children.
  • H.R. 1725, the National All Schedules

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In light of continuing indicators of potential prescription-medication fraud and abuse in state Medicaid programs, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reviewed federal and state pharmacy-related policies and processes to prevent and detect such abuses. The GAO identified two potential controls that are not included in CMS’s current reporting requirements: (1) lock-in programs for noncontrolled…

In a recent report, the HHS OIG concludes that FDA has made progress in improving oversight of generic drug manufacturers, including greater parity in inspections of foreign and domestic generic drug manufacturers. A summary of the report, FDA Has Made Progress on Oversight and Inspections of Manufacturers of Generic Drugs, is available on our Life…

On April 21, 2015, the House of Representatives approved H.R. 471, the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2015. The bipartisan legislation would clarify the Controlled Substances Act to establish consistent enforcement standards intended to protect against diversion while promoting patient access to medically-necessary controlled substances.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report examining the extent to which antipsychotic drugs are prescribed for older adults with dementia in nursing homes and other settings. The GAO found that, according to Medicare Part D data, about one-third of older adults with dementia who spent more than 100 days in a nursing…

On February 11, 2015, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the following bipartisan public health bills:

  • H.R. 471, Ensuring Patient Access to Effective Drug Enforcement Act (to improve enforcement efforts regarding prescription drug diversion and abuse);
  • H.R. 639, Improving Regulatory Transparency for New Medical Therapies Act, as amended (to amend the Controlled Substances Act

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The OIG has issued another report examining the safety of compounded sterile preparations (CSPs) used in hospitals, in response to a 2012 meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated injections. This report, "Medicare’s Oversight of Compounded Pharmaceuticals Used in Hospitals," assesses the extent to which Medicare’s oversight of hospitals addresses 55 practices for CSP oversight in acute-care hospitals…

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…

On January 27, 2015, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on bipartisan public health legislation, including:

  • Ensuring Patient Access to Effective Drug Enforcement Act (to improve enforcement efforts regarding prescription drug diversion and abuse);
  • Improving Regulatory Transparency for New Medical Therapies Act (to amend the Controlled Substances Act to improve

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The FDA published a proposed rule on December 18, 2014 that would require electronic distribution of the prescribing information intended for health care professionals, which is currently distributed in paper form on or within the prescription drug or biological product packaging. FDA also is proposing that prescribing information intended for health care professionals will no…

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…

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a notice announcing the Agency’s revised guidance for industry defining the types of action, inaction, and circumstances that FDA considers to constitute delaying, denying, or limiting inspection, or refusing to permit entry or inspection for the purposes of making a drug adulterated.

The revised guidance clarifies FDA’s expectations regarding the types of action, inaction, and circumstances that make a drug adulterated under FDASIA and the FD&C Act. FDA also provides examples that constitute reasonable explanations for actions, inactions, or circumstances that could otherwise be considered delaying, denying or limiting inspection, or refusing to permit entry or inspection.
Continue Reading FDA Revises Guidance Defining Delays, Denials, Limits and Refusals of a Drug Inspection

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has published a final rule to implement the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which was intended to mitigate prescription drug abuse by providing safe and secure mechanisms for “ultimate users” to dispose of unused or unwanted pharmaceutical controlled substances. The regulations allow authorized manufacturers, distributors, reverse…

This post was written by Jillian W. Riley. On June 6, 2014, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a draft guidance addressing the distribution of new risk information to health care providers (HCPs) and health care entities (HCEs). The draft guidance defines “new risk information” as “information that becomes available after a drug is marketed that rebuts or mitigates information about a risk already identified in the approved labeling or otherwise refines risk information in the approved labeling in a way that does not indicate great seriousness of the risk.” The draft guidance is not intended to address risk information that is newly identified, but that which was not available at the time FDA approved the labeling. Acknowledging the evolving nature of a drug’s safety profile, the draft guidance is aimed at helping sponsors better communicate “new risk information” in order to allow HCPs and HCEs make the best decision for each patient.
Continue Reading FDA Issues Draft Guidance on Communicating New Risk Information about an Approved Drug Product – Comment Opportunity