Posts Tagged ‘EASU’

FDLI Conference on REMS: Benefits and Risks Meet Liabilities and Opportunities

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

- Guest blog by Roger Morris, The LondonBritian Company -

You’ve heard all the analogies:  Is the glass half empty or half full?  Does the dark storm cloud have a silver lining?

I was constantly reminded of this during the Food & Drug Law Institute’s latest conference on REMS held February 16 in Washington, D.C., as the residents and transportation system was trying to dig out of one-two snowstorms.  It was an interesting conference, one that built substantially on the groundwork done at last year’s REMS conference which the FDLI co-hosted with ParagonRx. (more…)

VIOXX - What Could Have Been in the Age of REMS

Monday, February 15th, 2010

- Guest blog by Wendy Kaplan Nickel -

Perhaps one of the greatest downfalls in drug history was the steep tumble of VIOXX after it was voluntarily pulled from the market in 2004.  VIOXX was approved by the FDA in 1999 and quickly became “the” drug for arthritis.  It gained widespread acceptance among physicians and over 20 million people were prescribed VIOXX at some point in its 5-year tenure.  In fact, in the year prior to VIOXX’s withdrawal from the market, its manufacturer, Merck, experienced sales revenue of $2.5 billion from VIOXX alone.  It is assumed Merck certainly had no intention of harming patients with its product, and in fact, celebrated in the fact that so many patients benefitted from the medication.  However, it is worth exploring what might have happened if VIOXX’s safety issues had been discovered during the post-FDAAA era.

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We’ve Grown to Better Support Our Clients

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Since 2003, ParagonRx has helped design, document, or negotiate dozens of risk management programs and REMS for pharmaceutical products.  Clients who choose to work with us have done so because of three operating principles:

  1. We believe in a balanced approach to REMS design in which safety objectives are achieved while preserving commercial viability.
  2. We employ science-based methods to reliably design and measure rational, defendable programs.
  3. We strive to inspire confidence in clients facing uncertain situations by providing specialized thinking, expert analysis and remarkable responsiveness by our experienced staff.

Those potential clients who did not choose to work with us often cited the need for a firm with broader capabilities to implement communication plans and elements to assure safe use.

At the start of this year, ParagonRx fulfilled its vision of being able to provide end-to-end REMS and risk management services by joining inVentiv Health. (more…)

FDA’s Draft Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Guidance – A Preliminary Review (Part V)

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

On September 30th, FDA issued draft guidance, “Format and Content of Proposed Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS), REMS Assessments and Proposed REMS Modifications”. While much of this draft guidance is a codification of what’s already been happening in practice over the past 2 years, there are some interesting aspects in the guidance for those working in the REMS space to contemplate. This is the fifth in an ongoing series of blog articles about this important document.

Our first four articles covered the background of FDAAA and REMS, an overview of a REMS submission and greater detail about the “Proposed REMS” and “REMS Supporting Document”, and REMS submissions and communications with FDA.

In this fifth and final article, we address our preliminary interpretation of the draft guidance, as well as opportunities for industry to respond and propose further improvements. (more…)

FDA’s Draft Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Guidance – A Preliminary Review (Part III)

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

On September 30th, FDA issued its long awaited draft guidance, “Format and Content of Proposed Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS), REMS Assessments and Proposed REMS Modifications”. While much of this draft guidance is a codification of what’s already been happening in practice over the past 2 years, there are a few interesting surprises (depicted in bold below) for those working in the REMS space to contemplate. This is the third in an ongoing series of blog articles about this important document.

Our first two articles covered the background of FDAAA and REMS relative to RiskMAPs and those RiskMAPs deemed to be REMS, an overview of a REMS submission, and greater detail about the more concise “proposed REMS” component of the REMS document submission. This article details the content of the more comprehensive “REMS Supporting Document”, which explains the rationale for, and supporting information about, the proposed REMS. A template for the REMS Supporting Document can be found on the www.fda.gov website. (more…)

FDA’s Draft Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Guidance – A Preliminary Review (Part II)

Monday, October 5th, 2009

On September 30th, FDA issued its long awaited draft guidance, “Format and Content of Proposed Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS), REMS Assessments and Proposed REMS Modifications”. While much of this draft guidance is a codification of what’s already been happening in practice over the past two years, there are a few interesting surprises (depicted in bold below) for those working in the REMS space to contemplate. This is the second in an ongoing series of blog articles about this important document.

Our first article covered the background of FDAAA and REMS relative to RiskMAPs and those RiskMAPs deemed to be REMS, as well as an overview of a REMS submission. This second article addresses, in greater detail, the more concise “proposed REMS” component of the REMS document submission. The more expanded “REMS supporting document”, explaining the rationale for, and supporting information about, the proposed REMS being addressed in the next article. (more…)

FDA’s Draft Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Guidance - A Preliminary Review (Part I)

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

FDA issued its long awaited draft guidance, “Format and Content of Proposed Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS), REMS Assessments and Proposed REMS Modifications”, on September 30. While much of the guidance is codification of what’s already been happening in practice over the past two years, there are a few surprises (indicated here in bold) for all of us working in the REMS space to contemplate. This is the first in a series of blog posts about this important document. (more…)

An excerpt from Expert Evaluation of RxFMEA™, a white paper by Benjamin A. Berman

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Description of RxFMEA™

RxFMEA™ is a proprietary modification and extension of the basic FMEA methodology and that of Healthcare FMEA (HFMEA™), an adaptation of FMEA that was developed by the U.S. Veteran’s Administration. My review of the process suggests that the objective of RxFMEA™ is the comprehensive management of risks in the pharmaceutical industry. Because of the active involvement of trained personnel and untrained consumers in the distribution and use of pharmaceuticals, RxFMEA™ extends the basic FMEA and HFMEA™ processes in the following ways (more…)

Contingency Planning: Strategies to Negotiate the Barriers to Product Approval

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

In a constantly changing regulatory environment, having a well planned contingency strategy is vital for successful Food and Drug Administration (FDA) negotiations. Today, this is more important than ever. The FDA is asking companies to prepare Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) to help ensure patient safety, and has issued a documentation template, but has yet to provide further guidance to the industry on how such REMS should be developed. (more…)

REMS Effectiveness Management

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Your company wouldn’t launch a new product and wait for the end-of-year results before assessing whether the launch strategy was effective, correct? In fact, the process most pharmaceutical product managers employ includes weekly measurement of prescription volume, tracking product inventory, assessing distribution patterns of promotional materials, measuring knowledge/attitude/practices of prescribers, and adjusting marketing activities to achieve success.

So why would tracking and adjusting risk management activities be any different? FDA requires an assessment of REMS performance at intervals no less frequently than 18 months, 3 years, and 7 years post launch. What are you doing before and between formal assessments to actively manage and maximize the effectiveness of the REMS? (more…)