Breaking: FDA Moves to Broadly Regulate LDTs
Earlier today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it will hold a public meeting July 19-20 to “discuss how the agency will oversee laboratory-developed tests (LDTs).” The FDA has made several high-profile announcements over the past month – particularly in the area of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing – but today’s development, despite its not receiving the same degree of media attention, is likely the most significant development to date.
Why? Until today, the FDA’s recent announcements have involved a series of letters to DTC genetic testing companies, beginning last month with Pathway Genomics and continuing last week with letters to five other prominent DTC companies. Despite all of the attention paid to these letters, the sum total of the FDA’s regulatory focus amounted to only a handful of products. Today’s announcement, on the other hand, declares the FDA’s intent to much more aggressively regulate the entire field of LDTs. While an exact count of the number of LDTs available is impossible, GeneTests.org lists more than 2,000 genetic tests from nearly 600 laboratories, numbers which do not even include genetic tests and other diagnostic products offered DTC. After having been criticized for a policy of case-by-case regulation, the FDA has answered with a move to regulate the entire field of laboratory-based testing.
Read the rest of this entry »
Challenging the FDA: A History Lesson for DTC Genetics
Last week the FDA sent letters to five personal genomics companies alleging that the companies are manufacturing and selling medical devices without appropriate FDA review. The FDA’s decision to substantially increase its regulatory oversight of some of the most prominent direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic service providers has met with a mixed reaction. Supporters of the move argue that these DTC products are medical in nature and require more stringent regulatory controls. Critics, including at least one of the companies receiving a letter (23andMe), fault the FDA for adopting a paternalistic stance to personal genetic information and imposing unnecessary regulatory controls.
What’s Next for DTC? In last week’s post, we outlined several possible responses available to DTC genetics companies, including (1) pulling products from market, (2) agreeing to comply with FDA regulatory requirements, (3) modifying products to avoid FDA oversight or (4) challenging the FDA’s regulatory authority over DTC genetic testing products. We also noted the possibility that the FDA’s decision to look more closely at DTC genetic tests could presage increased scrutiny of the genetic testing industry more broadly, including the many tests currently offered without FDA clearance or approval as laboratory developed tests (LDTs).
