Posts Tagged ‘NDIs’

In what may be considered highly encouraging and promising news for the supplement industry, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) have asked FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg to withdraw the controversial NDI Draft Guidance — and replace it with a new draft that, according to the Senators, “will provide needed clarification on what constitutes an NDI, but does not undermine the balance Congress struck in DSHEA to provide consumers with access to safe, affordable dietary supplement products.”

As reported in yesterday’s American Herbal Products Association Update, Senators Hatch and Harkin — who were the principal authors of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) and are in a unique position to comment on this controversial new draft guidance and whether it is consistent with DSHEA — wrote a letter to the FDA to formally ask them to withdraw the document.  In their letter, the Senators pointed out that the draft guidance “serves to undermine DSHEA in a number of important aspects” — and went on to note their many concerns with the draft guidance (which many experts in the supplement industry have been noting since this controversial draft guidance for NDIs was introduced.) Read the rest of this entry »

Will Congress exempt Pre-Jan. 2007 Dietary Supplements from New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) Regulations?

Rep. Dan Burton

Although we don’t yet know whether this legislation has any legs, on November 4^th Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) proposed the H R 3380 – Burton, a bill that would grandfather tens of thousands of dietary supplement ingredients that have been marketed since the passage of DSHEA (October 15, 1994) up to January 1, 2007, effectively “reclassifying” their NDI status.  Recognizing that industry practices, including the cGMP’s, Adverse Event Reporting, and voluntary product auditing and testing for quality and purity, have improved dietary supplement safety for consumers, the bill highlights that fact that corresponding FDA policy remained unchanged. The bill seeks to amend section 413(d) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDC Act”) to expand the definition of a new dietary ingredient, because the FDC Act “does not recognize the current safe market in supplements, nor how intensively supplements have been regulated over the 17 years since enactment of DSHEA to protect public health and safety, and should be updated to reflect this reality.” We will be following the progress of this legislation in hopes that it will gain momentum and support from industry, and ultimately, from Congress.

The industry breathed a temporary sigh of relief when they learned that FDA had extended the comment period for its New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) Draft Guidance by 60 days to Dec. 2, 2011. The extension came one month after five industry trade organizations requested FDA extend the comment period by 45 days. Jarrow Formulas, a dietary supplement manufacturer, had also sent a request to FDA for a 1 year extension of the comment period, so the 60 day extension is an apparent compromise by FDA. Dietary supplement manufacturers and distributors are encouraged to confer with their legal counsel and/or trade association to continue to develop and prepare comments for FDA.

While so many in the industry seem to be talking about NDI notifications as the biggest issue facing supplement companies, a recent poll of approximately 100 attendees at the recent United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) seminar indicates that there’s another issue of more concern in the supplement industry today: GMP compliance. According to the survey results, reported in the August 15^th “Tan Sheet” (see thumbnail image), 60% of the attendees polled said that GMP compliance is currently the most important issue facing the industry – compared to only 31% of attendees who believe that NDI notification tops the list of current concerns.

Those polled aren’t the only ones noting the importance of GMP compliance on the industry; according to Daniel Fabricant, director of FDA’s Division of Dietary Supplements, “GMPS are probably the most substantial thing industry has to work on” – noting that the FDA “is seeing a pretty high rate of noncompliance.” Fabricant went on to note that “the industry should expect more GMP enforcement” – but also disconnected the two issues by saying that the agency would “likely not” enforce NDI notification through GMP inspections.

So, for now, NDI notifications and GMPs remain two separate issues – with, it appears, more in the industry possibly less concerned about NDIs than they are about GMP compliance in today’s complex supplement industry. Therefore, as GMP compliance continues to be a growing issue, ensure that your company is following all proper practices and adhering to all current and future regulatory guidelines – and, to best meet any potential expanded GMP enforcement, consider seeking professional legal counsel to help you navigate through this important time.

Alan Feldstein

Dietary supplement law expert Alan Feldstein presented at the American Herbal Products Association webinar last week to address issues surrounding the FDA’s controversial new draft guidance on NDIs (new dietary ingredients).  In his presentation, Feldstein noted that not only is there  “no logic” to FDA’s guidance regarding some of these notifications, but cautioned that this insistence would place “an impossible burden on the industry.”  Read the news story published by Nutraingredients USA on this timely and critical topic, click HERE.

To see Alan’s complete presentation, click here: Webinar Presentation 7-19-11.

Some insight and clarification offered from FDA but many questions left unanswered

The Natural Products Association hosted a Webinar featuring both an audio and video conference in the form of a slide show presentation. The Webinar featured two speakers, Dr. Daniel Fabricant, director of the Division of Dietary Supplement Programs at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), and Scott Bass, head of the Global Life Sciences Team at Sidley Austin LLP, followed by a Question and Answer segment. Dr. Fabricant began by providing an overview of the document as well as FDA’s position and thought process in preparing the draft guidance. Scott Bass then briefly presented his initial impressions based on his experience with the drafting and implementation of DSHEA. He also offered his interpretation of how this document will affect industry and some feedback that he has gathered from industry.

While Dr. Fabricant did not offer much clarification with respect to many of the questions posed by Bass and the teleconference participants during the Q & A segment, he should be commended for his efforts to address the barrage the of questions he received as the representative of FDA.
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The General Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report to Congressional requesters on the issue of whether “FDA should take further actions to improve oversight and consumer understanding” of dietary supplements. In recommending that the Secretary of Health and Human Services direct the FDA Commissioner to request additional authority to oversee dietary supplements, one of the key areas of GAO focus was adverse event reporting.The report recommends requiring that all supplement adverse events be reported, not just serious ones, and that supplement companies register annually as such and maintain records of their products and labels.

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