Topic 38 – FDA Comments on Off-label Dissemination – Did it just tip its hand on upcoming off-label policy?

Have you had the opportunity to follow the Amarin lawsuit against the FDA?  If not, a quick recap:  

Amarin is literally a fish-oil salesman – they have fish-oil pills that are already FDA approved for the treatment of very high levels of triglycerides.  They had conducted clinical trials to expand their label to patients with lower levels of high triglycerides.  The FDA rejected their application.  Amarin decided it wanted to share the results of those studies anyway since they were positive and sued the FDA for the right to share its data on off-label use.

The interesting part comes from the FDA response letter.  Putting aside their primary concern that Amarin failed to work with them before suing them, the letter signed by Janet Woodcock went on to layout the condition in which Amarin (or for that matter any pharam company) can share off-label data.

First, the letter reiterated what we already know and have discussed: the reprint exemption to off label communication – distribute reprints from peer-reviewed journals, avoid some simple issues like highlighting only the “good” passages, and you are in the clear.

But then the letter goes on to say that Amarin can also write up and distribute its own summary of the results of their trial if the write up:

• Remains factual and does not omit material information or introduce bias
• Includes full data for each treatment group
• States that the current label does not approve of the use
• States that the impact on the off-label use has not been determined
• Shares data about other, known similar studies that may have different results
• Any financial or affiliation biases between the firm and the people who conducted the study

They go on to add that to protect against being misleading the company should:

• Provide a copy of the current Package Insert
• Provide a copy of any relevant reprints
• Discuss these topics in an educational or scientific setting and not as a part of a promotional discussion or attached to promotional materials
• Discussions should be conducted by persons with the appropriate background or training to accurately communicate scientific information

While that is still a lot of hurdles, that is a long way from reprints only.  And while these are NOT an official policy now, I think this is telegraphing what we should expect to see in the upcoming policies.

I particularly like the final bullet point which makes it clear that these topics need to be discussed by roles that sound very much like MSLs. 

To speculate, if the FDA were to allow establish this as the policy, it would surely free up MA to proactively share both off label and label supportive information.  That would be a big improvement for some MA organizations that deny all proactive sharing of off-label information.

You can find the letter HERE.  The juicy bits begin on page 8.

What do you think?  Click here to leave a comment.