Changes in the new Orange Book — or, too much time on my hands …

It’s always an exciting day when FDA issues the new annual edition of the Orange Book!  (At least for me, and I’m sure also for Kurt Karst, over at FDA Law Blog.)  There are a lot of changes in store at the Orange Book in the next year, all of which will get fanfare and attention, but this post is about the little changes in the annual edition (print and PDF) that don’t get called out.  It’s prompted by the fact that FDA deleted a sentence in the preface last year, without telling anyone.  (I had quoted it in an expert report, just a few months earlier and was annoyed to see it deleted.)  I resolved that going forward I would electronically compare every new annual edition to the last year’s edition, and so I spent my Saturday doing exactly this with the new edition — and crashing my computer repeatedly.  The results after the jump.

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Patent Term Restoration – Denied!

In 1984, Congress amended the Patent Act to permit a patent extension for certain types of inventions — many (but not all) of those subject to premarket testing and federal government approval requirements.  Some people call this patent term extension; others call it patent term restoration.  Between enactment of the statute in September 1984 and the end of March 2017, the Patent and Trademark Office received 1113 applications for patent term extensions in connection with new drugs and biological products.  But by April 1, 2018, it had granted only 664 extensions.  Why do companies not get patent term extension?  Usually because this wasn’t FDA’s first approval of the active ingredient. 

More after the jump.

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FDA Law SSRN Reading List – October and November (Part 2 of 2)

Here are three more new and noteworthy articles from October and November, including Professor Robin Feldman’s new empirical study of the pharmaceutical industry.

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FDA Law SSRN Reading List (September 2017)

Here’s what to read on SSRN, relating to FDA law, from September 2017.  One piece contributes to a growing literature on the relationship between inter partes review and Hatch-Waxman litigation, and one piece dives into application of intended use doctrine to synthetic nicotine products.

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Hatch-Waxman Comments – Status Report (Part II)

Last week I summarized some of the recommendations for FDA in the first 67 comments to the Hatch-Waxman docket that opened in July.  Today’s entry discusses the recommendations that relate to use and distribution restrictions, citizen petitions, and what some call “product hopping.”

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Hatch-Waxman Comments – Status Report (Part I)

What are people recommending that FDA do, to improve the current balance between drug innovation and access to generic drugs?  The docket isn’t closed yet, but I’ve read the first 67 comments. . . .

Background

FDA held a public meeting in July to consider the Hatch-Waxman Amendments, asking for comment concerning its administration of the amendments “to help ensure the intended balance between encouraging innovation in drug development and accelerating the availability to the public of lower cost alternatives to innovator drugs is maintained.”  It also opened a docket for written comments, which was originally slated to close on September 18.  On September 19, it extended the date for submission of comments to November 17.   What follows is a high level overview of some of the main recommendations for FDA in the first 67 comments.

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