K&L Gates Triage: 340B Regulatory Update: CMS Proposal and Draft Executive Order Could Have Big Impact on 340B Program
According to a report from the Congressional Research Service (the Report), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is likely to follow the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug...more
The legal status of mifepristone and misoprostol, drugs legally prescribed by physicians since 2000 for the medical termination of early pregnancy, may soon be decided by a federal court in Texas in a lawsuit known as...more
On November 7, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a request for comments on areas for USPTO-FDA collaboration and engagement. The USPTO also announced a related public listening session to be held...more
Welcome to the third installment of the Editors’ Roundtable, in which our editors – Whitt Steineker, Jay Wright, Hunter Robinson, and Slates Veazey – discuss cannabis issues in the news and take a stab at where the cannabis...more
On September 28, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued approval letters for Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration applications previously submitted by Oregon and Massachusetts. Section 1115 waivers...more
On August 7, 2022, the U.S. Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes some of the most significant drug pricing-related changes since the passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement...more
On November 15, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) withdrew a controversial Trump-era HHS Policy Change that effectively prevented the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from reviewing laboratory-developed...more
In response to President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy—which called for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to publish for notice and comment a proposed rule on...more
Emergency Use Authorizations will play a role as the pandemic eases, but a transition to ordinary course approvals is underway. As long as the COVID-related emergency is deemed to exist, fast-tracked FDA regulatory...more
On March 8, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order, establishing a Gender Policy Council (“the Council”) tasked with the broad policy goal of “advancing gender equity and equality” for the purpose of reducing...more
In Washington: The House passed a one-week funding extension (HR 8900) to give lawmakers more time to finalize a fiscal 2021 spending package and coronavirus relief. The vote was 343-67. The measure (HR 8900) now goes to...more
In Washington - President Trump announced a plan Monday to deploy 150 million rapid tests to states and vulnerable communities. This comes one month after the administration initially announced the purchase. During a Rose...more
As previously covered on this blog, in mid-2019 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) jointly published the Safe Importation Action Plan, which outlined the Trump...more
In the Food and Drug area, we don’t often get dramatic changes in FDA policies, but an announcement from the Secretary of HHS, published on August 18, appears to be just such a dramatic change. In the new announcement, HHS...more
The Trump Administration issued a series of Executive Orders (“EOs” or “Orders”) Friday afternoon related to drug pricing. Several of the EOs seek to restart stalled or withdrawn policy initiatives previously announced by the...more
On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) revoked the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) that permitted emergency distribution of chloroquine phosphate (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine sulfate (HCQ) from the...more
Prompted by a substantial increase in requests for individual patient access to investigational drugs and biologics to treat COVID-19, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) issued guidance on June 2, 2020 that outlines...more
On May 19, 2020, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of General Counsel (OGC) issued an advisory opinion (Advisory Opinion) finding that the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act1(PREP Act)...more
With the spread of COVID-19, healthcare providers—including those that are more easily accessible to patients, like primary care practices and urgent care clinics—are looking for fast and reliable tests to diagnose infection....more
At the end of July 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) jointly published the Safe Importation Action Plan, which outlined the Trump Administration’s two-part...more
Over a year ago, HHS Secretary Alex Azar requested that FDA establish a working group to explore how drug importation “could help address price hikes and supply disruptions.” The FDA working group was not assigned the task of...more
On July 10, 2019, President Trump issued an Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health (the EO). Executive orders are issued under the authority of the Constitution, Article II, Sections 1 and 3, requiring that the...more
It takes more than a lot of huffing and puffing to blow down the ever-rising high costs of prescription drugs, the Trump administration has found. Two defeats happened last week: officials were forced to pull a plan to curb...more
Introduction: The Opioid Crisis - Every day in the United States, more than 130 people die after overdosing on opioids, such as prescription pain relievers, heroin, and fentanyl. These deaths are part of the ongoing,...more
In May, the Trump Administration announced its Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices and HHS Secretary Azar issued a Request for Information seeking comments from interested parties “to help shape future policy development and...more