Tag Archives: combination products

DSCSA: Kit, Repack, Combo Product, or Just A ‘Collection’?…Again

iStock_000069076997_smallerI am writing this from Mumbai India where I am scheduled to speak at the Systech Uniquity Conference, but I will be home by the time you read this.  I just won’t have time to publish a new essay this week due to the incredibly long flights I need to get home.  So, here is a re-posting of a great essay from May 9, 2016.

 

DSCSA: Kit, Repack, Combo Product, or Just A ‘Collection’?

Medical convenience kits are exempt from the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).  But be careful.  Continue reading DSCSA: Kit, Repack, Combo Product, or Just A ‘Collection’?…Again

DSCSA: Kit, Repack, Combo Product, or Just A ‘Collection’?

iStock_000069076997_smallerMedical convenience kits are exempt from the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).  But be careful.  Just because you and your customers have called your product “a kit” for years doesn’t mean that Congress and the FDA call it that under the DSCSA.  In fact, many products that have historically been referred to as “medical convenience kits” will be treated under the DSCSA as a repackaged drug, a combination product, or worse, just a collection of device(s) and drug(s).  Let’s take a closer look. Continue reading DSCSA: Kit, Repack, Combo Product, or Just A ‘Collection’?

Is Your Drug Exempt From The Federal Drug Supply Chain Security Act? Revisited

Exempt signI am working this week, but I know this is a popular time for vacations, especially for those who do not have children in school.  I typically write my Monday essays over the weekend, but because it was a holiday weekend and my wife and I did some leisure traveling, I decided to re-post a popular essay from earlier this year:  “Is Your Drug Exempt From The Federal Drug Supply Chain Security Act?“.

I wrote this essay to help companies, large and small, figure out whether or not their products might be exempt from the DSCSA.  In it, I provide a kind of a formula that you can use to determine if a given product is exempt or not.  At least it’s a series of questions or statements that you can ask yourself about your product.  So without further ado,

IS YOUR DRUG EXEMPT FROM THE FEDERAL DRUG SUPPLY CHAIN SECURITY ACT?

Ever since the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA) was signed into law last November Continue reading Is Your Drug Exempt From The Federal Drug Supply Chain Security Act? Revisited

Is Your Drug Exempt From The Federal Drug Supply Chain Security Act?

Exempt signEver since the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA) was signed into law last November (see “It’s Official, President Obama Signs H.R. 3204, DQSA, Into Law”), more and more people are asking the question, “Does my drug have to follow the DQSA?”.  Recently I was on a monthly industry call put on by one of the Big 3 wholesale distributors to discuss the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), which is Title II of the DQSA.

I was surprised how many people asked the wholesaler if their specific product was covered or exempt.  Of course, asking a wholesale distributor if your own product must follow a particular Federal law is not likely to get a usable response and that was true in this case, but it did not stop the next person from asking the same kind of question.

In fact, no one can answer that question for you.  Even the FDA can’t answer that question for you.  I can’t answer that question for you.  Only YOU can answer that question based on your knowledge of your product’s characteristics and a careful reading of certain provisions of the DSCSA.  I can help you with that part.  Continue reading Is Your Drug Exempt From The Federal Drug Supply Chain Security Act?

Correction: Your Drug or Biologic Combination Product Is Probably NOT Exempt From The DQSA

CorrectionLast month I published an essay that analyzed the exemption language related to combination products contained in the old California pedigree law and in H.R. 3204, which was later signed into law as the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA) (see “Drug-Device Combo Products Under State And Federal Pedigree Laws”).  In that essay I showed how these exemptions were very similar because both were based on the existing definition of a “combination product” from 21 CFR 3.2(e).  My assessment of the effect of the wording in the old California pedigree law is still valid, in my opinion, but I now believe my analysis of the language in H.R. 3204 was incorrect.  Here is why. Continue reading Correction: Your Drug or Biologic Combination Product Is Probably NOT Exempt From The DQSA

Drug-Device Combo Products Under State And Federal Pedigree Laws

Metered dose inhaler drug-device combination product
Metered dose inhaler drug-device combination product

Important Notice To Readers of This Essay On November 27, 2013, President Barack Obama signed the Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013 into law. That act has many provisions, but one is to pre-empt all existing and future state serialization and pedigree laws like those that previously existed in California and Florida. Some or all of the information contained in this essay is about some aspect of one or more of those state laws and so that information is now obsolete. It is left here only for historical purposes for those wishing to understand those old laws and the industry’s response to them.Both the California ePedigree law and the potential federal pedigree law that currently exists within the womb that is H.R. 3204 contain an exemption for drug-device combination products.  This is an expanding category of products so this exemption is worthy of a closer look.

The drug-device combo product exemption language included in the California Business and Professions Code, 4034(g)(9), is almost identical to the language in H.R. 3204, 581(24)(B)(xii).  There is a reason for that.  They are both based on part of the FDA’s definition for a drug-device combination product, found in 21 CFR 3.2 (e). Continue reading Drug-Device Combo Products Under State And Federal Pedigree Laws