FDA Inks Combo Product Feedback Guidance

The FDA and industry have been at loggerheads over various issues surrounding combination products, but a new draft guidance may help resolve some of those conflicts. The draft deals with industry requests for feedback on combination product applications, but does not take up the product jurisdiction question, which is again the subject of litigation.

The draft guidance introduces the phrase “combination product agreement meeting,” or CPAM, one of several types of meetings sponsors can invoke in obtaining feedback from the agency on scientific and regulatory questions. Center-specific interactions are also mentioned in the draft, and the agency said that CPAMs should complement rather than replace application-based mechanisms for each center. CPAMs also are not appropriate for resolving any disputes that are usually taken up by the lead center’s dispute resolution or appeals processes.

The guidance further states that sponsors should channel all communications to the designated point of contact, or POC, even if the sponsor’s query takes up a question that is better addressed by a center other than the lead center. The draft is a response to Section 3038 of the 21st Century Cures Act, which covers a number of elements of the combination product review question.

In addition to defining the term “primary mode of action” and mandating that the FDA not use the mere presence of chemical action to justify designating the product a drug, Section 3038 of the Cures Act calls on the agency to issue guidance that characterizes a “structured process for managing presubmission interactions with sponsors.” That guidance is due within four years of enactment of the Cures Act and limits the comment period to 60 days. President Barack Obama signed the legislation in December 2016.

Meanwhile, another product jurisdiction case is in play in the courts, suggesting the agency still has its hands full persuading industry of its interpretation of the primary mode of action question.

DOJ Recovered $3 Billion in FCA Cases in 2019

The Department of Justice has enacted several changes to its approach to False Claims Act litigation over the past few years, but federal attorneys nonetheless managed to claw back more than $3 billion in settlements and judgments in 2019, according to a recent statement. As might be expected, the bulk of that sum was obtained in actions related to industries in healthcare, and 2019 marked the tenth consecutive year in which at least $2 billion was reclaimed in such settlements.

Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt said $2.6 billion of the amount reclaimed in 2019 involved hospitals, doctors, and makers of drugs and devices, adding that the volume of activity reflects the Trump administration’s emphasis on deterring fraud and abuse. A large portion of the recoveries revolved around opioid analgesics, although even the nursing home industry did not escape scrutiny. The statement indicated that 633 whistleblower lawsuits were filed in 2019, averaging to roughly a dozen new cases each week.

Despite the DOJ’s praise for the volume of recoveries, the amount in 2019 falls far short of the $4.7 billion recovered in 2016. That amount was reportedly the third highest amount in history at the time, and only slightly more than half ($2.5 billion) came from healthcare prosecutions, approximately the same amount recovered from these industries in 2019.