The FDA announced a plan today to cut down the backlog of drugs waiting for orphan designation.
This is the first element of several efforts the FDA will undertake under its new “Medical Innovation Development Plan,” which is aimed at ensuring that the FDA’s regulatory tools and policies are modern, risk based, and efficient. The goal of the plan is to seek ways the FDA can help facilitate the development of safe, effective and transformative medical innovations that have the potential to significantly impact disease and reduce overall health care costs.
Among the elements of the plan to eliminate the backlog, the FDA will deploy a Backlog SWAT team comprised of senior, experienced reviewers with significant expertise in orphan drug designation. The team will focus solely on the backlogged applications, starting with the oldest requests. The agency will also employ a new streamlined Designation Review Template to increase consistency and efficiency of its reviews. The program will also look to collaborate within the agency’s medical product centers to create greater efficiency, including conducting joint reviews with the Office of Pediatric Therapeutics to review rare pediatric disease designation requests.
Read more at www.fda.gov
