FDARA attempt to limit citizens petitions not likely to have much effect, expert claims

WASHINGTON According to Richard Silver, senior vice president of Equity Research for Lehman Brothers, the Food and Drug Administration’s Revitalization Act, which included language intended to limit the use of citizen petitions to block approvals of generic drugs, will not stop their use by brand companies, the FDA reported.

“Citizen’s petitions … we do not think they’re going to go away.  The backlog continues to grow,” Silver said last week during the Generic Pharmaceutical Association’s Annual Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. “We don’t think the citizen’s reforms will change the behavior of brand companies significantly.”

Two versions of the legislation are currently pending before a conference committee.