U.S. FDA Commissioner Robert Califf offered the keynote address at this year’s annual meeting of the Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI), revisiting recent events that have roiled the agency’s staff and reputation. Califf made a point of emphasizing the need for new statutory authorities in connection with the supply chains for FDA-regulated products, and remarked that his return to the agency will not be a reversion to the norm in this context.

A lot of eyes are on the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference taking place in Geneva June 12-15, as member countries try to reach a consensus on a proposal that would allow certain members to waive intellectual property (IP) rights on COVID-19 vaccines for at least three to five years.

Even as new waves of COVID-19 cause less direct disruption in the delivery of health care, the ongoing pandemic leaves a dramatically altered landscape for medical devices in its wake. The RBC Global Healthcare Conference revealed trends that will continue to reshape the utilization of medical technology and delivery of health care, while industry leaders drilled down into the details in a focused panel discussion. All agreed: the pandemic catapulted telemedicine and remote monitoring ahead five or more years, a hybrid delivery system with greater fluctuations in volume will emerge, devices that facilitate the movement of care out of the hospital to home or outpatient settings will remain in high demand and patient-centered control of health care will continue to attract additional industries into health care markets.

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has made a range of changes to its medical device regulations in recent years that have largely been driven by the need to keep pace with changing technologies, TGA head John Skerritt said during the Ausmedtech 2022 annual conference in Melbourne, Australia.

Pharma companies agree that data is king, since after all, their drugs get approved based on the quality of their data.