The FDA’s device center has been eyeing an overhaul of its Quality System Regulation (QSR) for several years, and the latest development is the scheduling of a March 2 advisory committee hearing to review the proposal. The default assumption is that the agency will post the draft rule prior to the hearing, although the routine two-day window for reviewing FDA meeting materials prior to an advisory hearing might leave stakeholders with insufficient time to examine the agency’s proposal.

The selection of Robert Califf to run the U.S. FDA might seem like a safe move on the part of the White House, but some believe his prior experience at the FDA does not necessarily suggest an acceptance of the regulatory status quo. Peter Pitts, president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, told BioWorld that while Califf is “not a flashy pick,” Califf possesses a very keen understanding of the need to modernize the FDA’s practice of regulatory science, which should be a welcome bit of news for makers of drugs and devices.

With an FDA 510(k) clearance now in hand, Cloudcath Inc. is planning a phased launch of its remote monitoring platform for peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. The company will make the system available on a limited basis in second half of 2022 “with broad U.S. availability increasing throughout 2023 and 2024,” Cloudcath CEO Aly ElBadry told BioWorld. The Cloudcath system continuously analyzes the dialysate fluid used in PD to detect early signs that a patient needs evaluation or intervention and then alerts both patients and clinicians.

The U.S. FDA has granted Datar Cancer Genetics Ltd. a breakthrough device designation for a blood test to detect early-stage prostate cancer. The circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection blood test can identify early-stage prostate cancer in men of age 55-69 years at around 99% accuracy.

The U.S. Senate narrowly voted 50-46 to confirm Robert Califf as the next commissioner of the FDA, a critical outcome for an agency that has lacked a fully anointed commissioner for a year. Califf, who was previously FDA commissioner under President Barack Obama from February 2016 to January 2017, faces several challenges in the coming year, however, including the agency’s accelerated approval program for prescription drugs, which has added drag to the process of registering him as the new commissioner.

Although diversity was front and center, it wasn’t the only reason the U.S. FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 14-1 on Feb. 10 that additional clinical trials demonstrating applicability to the U.S. non-small-cell lung cancer population are needed before sintilimab, a PD-1 inhibitor partnered in the U.S. by Innovent Biologics Co. Ltd. and Eli Lilly and Co., is ready for approval.

Biosimilars are bearing the brunt of the impact that COVID-19 has had on the U.S. FDA’s inspection program, which has ground almost to a halt during the pandemic. That’s the message Juliana Reed, president of the Biosimilars Forum, delivered to a House subcommittee last week.

Even as the U.S. Congress continues to kick the can down the road on prescription drug pricing, pressure to finally confront the issue is increasing. But as lawmakers debate price controls via direct Medicare negotiations vs. innovation, along with inflationary caps on price increases, one factor often gets downplayed: the role biologics are playing in the country’s overall spend on prescription drugs. While generics account for 90% of the drugs prescribed in the U.S., the other 10% of drugs prescribed account for more than 80% of the annual spending, according to the Association for Accessible Medicines.

At long last, the FDA granted premarket approval to Senseonics Holdings Inc.’s fully implantable Eversense E3 continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), an implantable device that provides accurate glucose readings for six months. The CGM will be available in the U.S. through Senseonics’ commercial partner, Ascensia Diabetes Care Holdings AG, starting in the second quarter. In Europe, the previous generation Eversense XL is available today and the company plans to launch the E3 in the third quarter of 2022.

The FDA’s November 2021 draft guidance for contents of premarket submission for device software functions may have been a desperately needed update for a legacy 2005 guidance, but stakeholders see one glaring omission from the draft. Both the Advanced Medical Technology Association and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America pointed to the absence of sign-off by the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) for the draft, a conspicuous omission because a combination product with software may include a drug regulated by CDER.