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Off-Label Promotion: Best Resolved by Congress, Not Courts

 

On December 3, a federal appeals court ruled against one of the FDA’s untouchable restrictions on industry—thou shalt not promote the off-label use of pharmaceutical products. An industry that is little interested in constitutional law suddenly finds itself talking about the First Amendment and whether, and on what grounds, the case will be appealed. 

 

Meantime, the court’s decision left FDA Matters torn between cheering and booing. Patients are poorly served if their doctor is prescribing drugs without being able to tap into all sources of relevant knowledge. However, permitting off-label promotion undercuts the incentive for companies to thoroughly investigate the safety and efficacy of a drug for a second or third use.

 

Benefits and abuses of off-label use. Off-label use is a medical necessity–an acknowledgement that the current inventory of approved drug indications is woefully inadequate to deal with the breadth, complexity and individual idiosyncrasies of human disease. All patients—but particularly those with rare diseases—would suffer grievously if physicians did not have flexibility with regard to the off-label use of pharmaceutical products.

 

Some off-label uses are supported by extensive published scientific studies, but no corporate entity or individual has the financial incentive to underwrite the FDA approval process. Many other off-label uses are in the evidence-thin realm of “we tried it for lack of alternatives and the patient seemed to be better.” The benefits of specific off-label uses are evaluated by published collections of expert opinions (known as compendia). The practice of prescribing off-label is monitored and approved (inconsistently) by payers.

 

If doctors can legally prescribe a particular drug for a specific use (albeit off-label), then companies ought to be able to provide “truthful and not misleading” information that they possess. Arguably, they can do so now (via reprints of scientific articles), but only in response to a physician’s request. This is a very limited means of disseminating information.*

 

The Struggle to Incentivize Approval of Second and Third Uses of Approved Drugs.  As I have written previously, it is in the public interest for off-label uses to become on-label indications. The agency is remarkably positive about deferring to the professional judgment of physicians, but would like to see every off-label use get the scrutiny necessary to assure it is safe and effective.

One of FDA’s great fears is that off-label prescribing will become dominant in clinical medicine (as I am told it has in certain areas of oncology). FDA is concerned that companies will receive approval for a first use, then (directly or subtly) encourage doctors to prescribe off-label. If this strategy is profitable, FDA worries that fewer and fewer companies will commit the time and money to gain approval for additional indications. If a company can’t promote off-label, then it is more likely to invest in clinical trials to gain approval of the additional indications.

Unrestricted promotion of off-label use would definitely undercut FDA. In such an environment, I believe that many companies will “game” the system by finding a comparatively easier first use for approval, then let sales for other uses build off-label. Nor do I think companies are universally concerned about “litigation commenced under states’ product liability laws for ineffective products and the resulting reputational harm from such lawsuits.”**

 

Congress, Not the Courts, Should Set the Ground Rules. By their nature, courts pick winners in these situations; they don’t create rules that maximize two competing public goods. I have been taught (and believe) that litigation is almost always the worst and most inefficient way to solve a problem. I consider this an example.

 

To achieve appropriate policy, Congressional action is needed.***  For many reasons, this may never happen. However, it is the only way to reconcile the competing and valid positions held by industry and FDA. I encourage Congress to try to bring peace to this area of contention.

 

Steven

*   Even without permissive policies, company sales and marketing practices are a source of constant problems, as discussed in Off-Label Promotion and Whistleblowing.

 

**  For those seeking a more legal and enforcement-oriented perspective on the court’s decision, including a number of critical nuances not covered here, I recommend  the FDA Law blog’s current analysis. The paragraph and the quote are based on that article’s description of why some commentators argue that off-label promotion is not a threat to FDA’s drug approval process.

 

***  A thorough and forthright FDA administrative proceeding (followed by guidelines or regulations) could also clear the air. This is unlikely because the agency generally lacks objectivity on a topic it feels so strongly about, plus the agency tends to respond to court directives, not act to break judicial deadlocks.  On a similarly thorny issue, the agency’s failure, after more than 15 years, to articulate sound policy (or any policy) on social media is indicative of why I don’t think the agency can resolve the “off-label promotion” issue by itself.

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