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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a draft guidance (Draft Guidance) on July 11, 2016 that allows some generic drug manufacturers holding an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) to update the label of the drug they manufacture with new safety information. The Draft Guidance provides new clarifications and recommendations to generic drug manufacturers seeking to update a generic label after withdrawal by the name brand manufacturer of the reference listed drug (RLD) (a “Withdrawn RLD”). The Draft Guidance explains how a generic manufacturer may submit an updated label of a generic drug to the FDA for approval after withdrawal of the RLD. The FDA must approve the proposed new label before the new generic label may be issued. The Draft Guidance also reminds applicants that the FDA continues to retain the authority to request the ANDA-holder with a Withdrawn RLD to update the label of the drug under its ANDA for safety reasons.
The issue of generic labeling was put in the spotlight in 2011 with the US Supreme Court’s decision in PLIVA, Inc. v. Mensing, 131 S. Ct. 2567 (2011), which held that generic drug manufacturers could not be held liable for failure to warn under state tort law because such laws were preempted by FDA regulations. The specific regulations at issue prohibit generic manufacturers from changing a drug label unless and until the label of the RLD is amended. Per Justice Thomas:
[t]he FDA denies that [generic drug manufacturers] could have… unilaterally strengthen[ed] their warning labels. The agency interprets… [its regulations] to allow changes to generic drug labels only when a generic drug manufacturer changes its label to match an updated brand-name label or to follow the FDA’s instructions.
In response to public outcry over the decision in PLIVA, the FDA published a proposed rule entitled, “Supplemental Applications Proposing Labeling Changes for Approved Drugs and Biological Products” (Proposed Rule). This Proposed Rule gives generic manufacturers much broader powers and responsibilities over the labels of the generic drugs they manufacture. The Proposed Rule was issued in 2013 and has been subject to controversy within the pharmaceutical industry. This controversy has led to multiple delays in the finalization of the Proposed Rule and the unusual step by appropriations committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate to approve budgets that prohibit spending on the Proposed Rule. As we reported in a June blog post, publication of the Proposed Rule has now been pushed out to at least the Summer of 2017.
In the interim, FDA’s Draft Guidance focuses on changes to generic drug labeling under a much narrower set of circumstances where the New Drug Application (NDA) of the RLD has been withdrawn by the brand name manufacturer for reasons other than safety or efficacy.
Currently, holders of a NDA or ANDA are each required to collect post-marketing safety data and provide the FDA with reports and safety data they receive for a drug under an NDA or ANDA. Based upon the data and reports submitted to the FDA, the FDA may request or require a change to the label of the corresponding drug (either a NDA or an ANDA with a Withdrawn RLD) in accordance with 21 USC §355(o)(4). Additionally, NDA holders have available a mechanism by which the NDA holder can update the label of the drug under the NDA on its own or by providing a suggested label to the FDA for review. This mechanism has typically been unavailable to ANDA holders. (See “Guidance for Industry: Safety Labeling Changes – Implementation of Section 505(o)(4) of the FD&C Act,” footnote 10). The Draft Guidance clarifies that this second avenue for updating a drug’s label is available for an ANDA holder with a Withdrawn RLD if changes become necessary based upon new safety information it obtains.
Additionally, the Draft Guidance describes the other sources of data available to the holder of an ANDA with a Withdrawn RLD to aid in determining whether a label should be updated. Specifically, the FDA suggests that such an ANDA holder should review the labels of other drugs, both NDAs and ANDAs, containing the same active ingredient as they may have been updated more recently than the label of the RLD at the time it was withdrawn.
The ability to update a label under these circumstances is important for an ANDA holder with a Withdrawn RLD to avoid misbranding allegations. As the Draft Guidance states:
as a Drug is used over time, the scientific community’s understanding of the drug may evolve based on data from various sources…. Therefore, the labeling of ANDAs that rely on the withdrawn RLD might eventually become inaccurate and outdated, resulting in labeling that is false and/or misleading…
While review of new data and undergoing the process of supplementing a drug’s label with new safety information may be burdensome for ANDA holders, it is likely preferable to the risk of facing misbranding allegations.
The avenue for updated labeling in the Draft Guidance also resembles the concept of Expedited Agency Review (EAR) included in the alternative to the Proposed Rule issued jointly by the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). While the Draft Guidance only applies to a very small and specific set of generic labels, the similarities between EAR and the FDA’s process for updating the label of an ANDA with a Withdrawn RLD demonstrates cooperation between the FDA and industry to at least find common ground on the issue of generic labeling. While the recommendations set forth in the Draft Guidance may be a sign the FDA is willing to listen to industry suggestions, the Draft Guidance’s impact is too limited to predict whether the FDA will continue to search for middle-ground with the remaining generic labeling issues raised in the Proposed Rule.
Per the listing in the Federal Register, any comment on the Draft Guidance must be submitted by September 9th, 2016 in order to be considered in rendering the final guidance.
