Persons selling herbal ephedra products could be subject to criminal fines of up to $1,000 in addition to civil fines of up to $1,000 under legislation introduced in New York City Council April 30 by minority leader James Oddo (R-Staten Island) and others. Ban would exempt FDA-approved OTCs, certified alternative medical practitioners, although it would not allow practitioners to prescribe botanical for weight loss, energy/athletic performance. Bill was referred to Health Committee. Similar measure banning ephedra was introduced in state assembly March 12 and referred to Codes Committee April 1 (1"The Tan Sheet" April 14, 2003, In Brief)...

Roche/Genentech oncology partnering maintained a robust dealmaking pace through the pandemic, keeping the percentage of partnered R&D programs at about 50% of the cancer drug pipeline.

To mitigate pandemic disruption of component supply chains, the US FDA said it will downgrade some post-approval change categories for sterile drug container closure systems. The downgrade will cover drugs in shortage and those used to treat COVID-19.