Medical and Regulatory Affairs

ICH GCP E6 (R2): A Primer for Small Biotech and Specialty Pharma Companies

Recent updates to the ICH Good Clinical Practice guidelines call for implementation of improved and more efficient approaches to clinical trial design, conduct, oversight, recording, and reporting that are intended to increase clinical trial quality and efficiency while continuing to ensure human subject protection and data integrity. Now, biotech and specialty pharma innovators face even...

Six Things You Need to Know About Medical Devices and Cybersecurity

Concern over cybersecurity touches our lives in new ways almost daily. Today, there is growing concern over millions of people who use connected medical devices that use off-the-shelf software. Here are six things the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health wants you to know about the safety of networked medical devices: 1. Hacking of...

Sponsors and CROs get More Clarity on Precision, Targeted Therapy Trials

Clinical trial sponsors and the clinical research organizations (CROs) supporting them have more clarity from the U.S. Federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on how to better select trial participants and design precision-based clinical trials for targeted therapies. New direction is contained in two new agency draft guidance documents recently published by the agency. They...

Optimizing Regulatory Considerations for Orphan-Drug Development on a Global Scale

Rare disease and orphan drug research has a long history of serious challenges, thanks to both intrinsic factors—fewer patients means less available data; less available data means a less complete picture—and market forces—it’s more difficult to find investors when a smaller pool of patients may mean a more uncertain potential return on investment. Luckily, recent changes...

Stronger Post-Market Studies Needed if FDA Speeds New Medical Device Approval

Big changes are planned in 2018 and beyond for how new medical devices are reviewed and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) if a proposal put forth moves forward. In a blogpost this week, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. announced the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) will publish a series...

Where Do We Start?: A Look at Dosing in Phase 1 Trials

Early oncology trials have changed for the better over the last few years thanks to novel investigational agents, innovations in trial design, and changes to regulatory practices. Among other improvements, these changes have helped to perfect the way study designers plan early phase dosing. Dosing strategies in Phase I trials First-in-human trials When an investigational agent is administered...

Investigational New Drug (IND) Applications: 4 Common Mistakes

Before starting Phase 1 trials, an Investigational New Drug (IND) application must be approved by the FDA. This critical early step in clinical trial development grants an exemption to laws prohibiting the transportation of drugs across state lines prior to market approval. The three major required areas of information in an IND include: Animal pharmacology...

Clinical Endpoint Committees: Ensuring the Quality, Validity, and Integrity of Clinical Trial Results

The use of Clinical Endpoint Committees for centralized adjudication of efficacy and/or safety endpoints can help to standardize outcomes and optimize the quality of clinical trial data, driving study success. Some compounds and many devices face the challenge of defining efficacy or safety endpoints so that they are scientifically measurable, objective, and valid. Often, clinical...

Investigational New Drug Applications: 5 Solutions to Common Problems

There are many pitfalls that come with preparing an Investigational New Drug application for FDA submission. Luckily, there are also plenty of ways to avoid them. But the most important strategy? It all comes down to one thing: Always remember to keep your audience (the FDA reviewers) in mind as you write. These five actionable...

Process and Regulatory Changes Making Rare Cancer Drug Development More Efficient

The study of rare cancers poses special challenges for drug developers, who often must draw on their experience in both oncology and rare disease. Careful consideration of clinical trial design and regulatory pathways can help increase the likelihood of success in rare oncology clinical trials. Researchers studying rare cancers must call on expertise in both...

Medical and Regulatory Affairs