[Federal Register: April 20, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 76)]
[Notices]
[Page 20409-20410]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20ap06-43]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. 2006N-0152]
Preparation for International Conference on Harmonization
Meetings in Yokohama, Japan; Public Meeting
AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.
ACTION: Notice of meeting.
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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing a public
meeting entitled ``Preparation for ICH meetings in Yokohama, Japan'' to
provide information and receive comments on the International
Conference on Harmonization (ICH) as well as the upcoming meetings in
Yokohama, Japan. The topics to be discussed are the topics for
discussion at the forthcoming ICH Steering Committee Meeting. The
purpose of the meeting is to solicit public input prior to the next
Steering Committee and Expert Working Groups meetings in Yokohama,
Japan on June 5 through 8, 2006, at which discussion of the topics
underway and the future of ICH will continue.
Date and Time: The meeting will be held on Monday, May 8, 2006,
from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: The meeting will be held at 5600 Fishers Lane, 3rd floor,
Maryland Conference Room, Rockville, MD 20857. For security reasons,
all attendees are asked to arrive no later than 9:25 a.m., as you will
be escorted from the front entrance of 5600 Fishers Lane to the
Maryland Conference Room.
Contact Person: All participants must register with Sema Hashemi,
Office of the Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers
Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, e-mail: Sema.Hashemi@fda.hhs.gov or FAX:
301-480-0716.
Registration and Requests for Oral Presentations: Send registration
information (including name, title, firm name, address, telephone, and
fax number), written material and requests to make oral presentations,
to the contact person by May 1, 2006.
If you need special accommodations due to a disability, please
contact Sema Hashemi at least 7 days in advance.
Transcripts: Transcripts of the meeting may be requested in writing
from the Freedom of Information Office (HFI-35), Food and Drug
Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, rm. 12A-16, Rockville, MD 20857,
[[Page 20410]]
approximately 15 working days after the meeting at a cost of 10 cents
per page.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ICH was established in 1990 as a joint
regulatory/industry project to improve, through harmonization, the
efficiency of the process for developing and registering new medicinal
products in Europe, Japan and the United States without compromising
the regulatory obligations of safety and effectiveness.
In recent years, many important initiatives have been undertaken by
regulatory authorities and industry associations to promote
international harmonization of regulatory requirements. FDA has
participated in many meetings designed to enhance harmonization, and
FDA is committed to seeking scientifically based harmonized technical
procedures for pharmaceutical development. One of the goals of
harmonization is to identify and then reduce differences in technical
requirements for medical product development among regulatory agencies.
ICH was organized to provide an opportunity for harmonization
initiatives to be developed with input from both regulatory and
industry representatives. ICH is concerned with harmonization among
three regions: The European Union, Japan, and the United States. The
six ICH sponsors are the European Commission; the European Federation
of Pharmaceutical Industries Associations; the Japanese Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare; the Japanese Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
Association; the Centers for Drug Evaluation and Research and Biologics
Evaluation and Research, FDA; and the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America. The ICH Secretariat, which coordinates the
preparation of documentation, is provided by the International
Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA). The
ICH Steering Committee includes representatives from each of the ICH
sponsors and Health Canada, the European Free Trade Area and the World
Health Organization. The ICH process has achieved significant
harmonization of the technical requirements for the approval of
pharmaceuticals for human use in the three ICH regions.
The current ICH process and structure can be found at the following
Web site: http://www.ich.org.
Interested persons may present data, information, or views orally
or in writing, on issues pending at the public meeting. Oral
presentations from the public will be scheduled between approximately
11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Time allotted for oral presentations may be
limited to 10 minutes. Those desiring to make oral presentations should
notify the contact person by May 1, 2006, and submit a brief statement
of the general nature of the evidence or arguments they which to
present, the names and addresses, phone number, fax, and e-mail of
proposed participants, and an indication of the approximate time
requested to make their presentation.
The agenda for the public meeting will be made available on April
24, 2006, on the Internet at http://www.fda.gov/cder/meeting/ICH_20060508.htm
.
Dated: April 13, 2006.
Jeffrey Shuren,
Assistant Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. E6-5905 Filed 4-19-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-S