Tag: Food and Drug Administration

The Government Will Likely Look to the Defense Production Act to Fulfill Its 500 Million COVID-19 Rapid, At-Home Test Kits Requirement

Stay up to date by subscribing to our blog. Add your e-mail address to the Subscribe box on the right (below the post on mobile) to get our timely posts delivered directly to your inbox.

Merle M. DeLancey Jr. and John M. Clerici*


Last week, in response to the Omicron variant, President Biden announced the Government intends to purchase 500 million at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests for distribution to Americans. According to the announcement, Americans will be able to order test kits to be delivered to their homes starting in January. While this may have been a good sound bite, as discussed below, it does not appear realistic. More likely, while Americans may be able to place orders in January, those orders may not be filled until several months into 2022.

As widely reported, rapid COVID-19 at-home test kits are already in short supply. Moreover, the Government has yet to enter into additional contracts beyond the limited contracts to a small number of suppliers previously announced by the Defense Logistics Agency (“DLA”) and a handful of “prototype” contracts finalized in 2020 under the Trump administration. The Government has not made any recent additional contract awards for rapid COVID-19 at-home test kits.

On December 22, one day after the president’s announcement, the Department of Defense (“DoD”), on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), issued a Request for Information (“RFI”) seeking information to assess market availability and sourcing for rapid COVID-19 at-home tests. The RFI, however, is not an actual procurement nor contract award and merely seeks information for 500,000 test kits for agency “personnel use.” Responses were due by 3:00 p.m. on December 24. (See, Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Test Kits.) Proposals to supply test kits are unlikely until after a Request for Proposal (“RFP”) has been issued. As of today, no RFP has been issued.

Continue reading “The Government Will Likely Look to the Defense Production Act to Fulfill Its 500 Million COVID-19 Rapid, At-Home Test Kits Requirement”

Will HHS’s Safe Importation Action Plan Affect How the Federal Government Purchases Drugs?

Merle M. DeLancey Jr.

On July 31, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) and the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) announced their latest plan to reduce the prices Americans pay for prescription drugs. The Safe Importation Action Plan identifies two pathways for the importation of drugs.

Pathway 1 allows states, wholesalers, and pharmacists to submit plans to HHS for demonstration projects, which test and measure the effect of potential program changes, that allow for the importation of certain drugs from Canada. Importing drugs from Canada is not a new concept. In 2003, Congress gave the Secretary of HHS the authority to permit drug importation from Canada. To implement a drug importation plan, however, the Secretary was required to certify to Congress that the importation program poses “no additional risk to public health and safety” and the program will result in a “significant” reduction in costs of products to American consumers. No HHS Secretary has ever made such a certification to Congress. Implementation of importation plans under Pathway 1 will most likely take considerable time. HHS intends to implement Pathway 1 through a formal Rulemaking process with Notice and Comment. Then, importation plans will need HHS approval before going “live.” Continue reading “Will HHS’s Safe Importation Action Plan Affect How the Federal Government Purchases Drugs?”

%d