FDA Puts the Brakes on Foreign Inspections through April

As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to spread, the FDA has stopped most foreign inspections through April.

Alternative measures will be used in place of inspections for the moment, including record requests, compliance history reviews, and physical examinations and sampling of products as they arrive at the U.S. border.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said the agency will still consider “mission-critical” inspections on a case-by-case basis, but it is confident that it can “maintain oversight over international manufacturers and imported products using alternative tools and methods.”