According to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s August 5th ruling in Thaler v. Vidal, No. 2021-2347 (Fed. Cir. 2022), artificial intelligence (“AI”) cannot be named as an inventor on a U.S. patent application. In its opinion, the Federal Circuit considered whether an inventor of a U.S. patent can be anything other … Continue Reading
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order N-43-20 (the Order), which went into effect on April 3, 2020, relaxes various telehealth reporting requirements, penalties, and enforcements otherwise imposed under state laws, including those associated with unauthorized access and disclosure of personal information through telehealth mediums. The Order acknowledged that telehealth services may help reduce the spread of … Continue Reading
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (the TCPA) restricts telemarketing and the use of automated telephone equipment for phone calls, faxes, and text messages. In an effort to ease restrictions in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued guidance clarifying that informational calls that are directly related to the imminent health or safety … Continue Reading
Medical device manufacturers, who may already be seeing the effects of lessened demand stemming from a slow-down of elective procedures outside of the United States, should be aware of recent guidance the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued to health care providers urging limitations on elective surgeries and nonessential procedures. As an … Continue Reading
Certain health care providers, health information technology (IT) developers, and health plans could see the way they share patient information transformed following the release of two new final rules issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The rules address interoperability and information blocking. Reed Smith partner Nancy Bonifant Halstead and senior associate … Continue Reading
On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared novel coronavirus (also known as “2019-nCoV” and “SARS-CoV-2”) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) named it a public health emergency (PHE). In the United States, the declaration of a PHE empowers HHS to … Continue Reading
On January 28, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP) will conduct two studies to examine how payment disclosure statements and the types of endorsers in drug advertisements affect consumers’ understanding of the information provided in the advertisements. Below is a summary of the studies. FDA … Continue Reading
Proposed amendment AB 713, if passed, would hopefully provide clarity to businesses working with clinical research data. The amendment proposes matching CCPA de-identification standards to those set forth in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), in addition to equally important clarifications for life sciences companies, health care providers and medical researchers. In particular, … Continue Reading
On December 23, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published in the Federal Register a set of proposed rules covering the requirements and procedures for importing under Section 804 of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) prescription drugs from Canada. It is these proposed rules under which prescription drugs intended for … Continue Reading
On Wednesday, November 20, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit heard oral argument in the closely watched False Claims Act (FCA) case of United States ex rel. Ruckh v. Salus Rehabilitation, Inc. The case involves questions regarding how to interpret and apply the FCA’s materiality standard set forth … Continue Reading
As 2019 comes to an end, the United States Food & Drug Administration’s (“FDA” or the “Agency”) Center for Veterinary Medicine has published a new draft Guidance for Industry #256, “Compounding Animal Drugs from Bulk Drug Substances” (the “Draft Guidance”). The Draft Guidance addresses FDA’s regulatory approach to compounding animal drugs from bulk drug substances. … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) recent imposition of a civil monetary penalty (CMP) against a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) covered entity demonstrates the need to ensure that HIPAA compliance programs are in place, are audited regularly, and emphasize the importance of promptly … Continue Reading
The Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA” or the “Administration”) recently published a notice in the Federal Register (volume 84, number 189, pages 51368–51377) that the Administration is amending its regulations and issuing a final rule to implement not only a new single-sheet format for its DEA Form 222, but to improve the corresponding recordkeeping requirements for … Continue Reading
By Catherine David, Brad Rostolsky, Kimberly Gold and Alexis Cocco on Posted in Regulatory Developments
Last Thursday, the California Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, released the long-awaited text of the proposed California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) regulations. Once finalized, these 24 pages of regulations will govern compliance with the CCPA. While the draft regulations provide insight into how regulated entities must address verification of consumer requests and clarifies aspects of how … Continue Reading
On October 2, 2019, the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it awarded a cooperative agreement grant to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) to establish an information-sharing system for drug compounding activities conducted in accordance with Section 503A of the Federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act (FDCA). With this … Continue Reading
As part of our Countdown to CCPA Compliance webinar series, Reed Smith will be hosting an upcoming webinar, “Countdown to CCPA compliance: 3 months to go” on Wednesday, October 9, 2019 at 2:00 PM ET. This program will explore the outcomes stemming from the September 2019 amendments on the CCPA, as well as the AG’s … Continue Reading
Californians may have a new privacy initiative on their November 2020 ballot after the California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act of 2020 (CPREA) was proposed last week. If enacted, this new law would revise and expand upon the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) – which goes into effect in January – by, among other features, creating heightened standards around the use … Continue Reading
On September 23, 2019, New York-based outsourcing facility Athenex, Inc. (Athenex) withdrew its appeal of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia’s ruling related to the United States Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) placement of Vasopressin on the Agency’s “clinical need” list. As may be recalled from our previous alert, Athenex sued FDA … Continue Reading
Entities that provide treatment to patients with substance use disorders may find some clarity on federal requirements surrounding patient record confidentiality. The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently announced much-anticipated proposed changes to the federal regulations at 42 C.F.R. part 2 (Part 2), which govern … Continue Reading
Just as the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) promised in its 2019 compounding priorities statement, FDA published a notice and proposed rule in the Federal Register in the past week related to bulk drug substances that can be compounded subject to the conditions of Section 503A and Section 503B of the Federal Food, Drug, … Continue Reading
It is imperative that life sciences companies operating globally stay on top of anti-corruption developments around the world, which is why we wanted to ensure our clients were aware of recent developments in Malaysia. In late July 2019, the Securities Commission Malaysia announced that it would implement an anti-corruption action plan (the Action Plan) seeking … Continue Reading
Over the past few years, genetic testing services have become a widespread phenomenon. Companies providing these services gather certain biological data from consumers who sign up for their services and then analyze this data to ascertain information about the consumer’s ancestry and/or genetic traits, among other things. These companies, however, are typically considered “non-covered entities” … Continue Reading
In an unprecedented settlement arising from a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, a medical software provider agreed to pay $900,000 to 16 state attorneys general (AGs) for alleged violations of a conglomerate of state and federal privacy laws. The settlement represents the resolution of the first-ever multistate data … Continue Reading
The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Legal Council (OLC) released an opinion in May 2019 addressing the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) jurisdiction over drugs used in capital punishment. A result of a request by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, the OLC issued an opinion following years of conflict around the use of sodium … Continue Reading
