[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 60 (Thursday, March 29, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14819-14820]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-5737]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. 2006E-0354]
Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent
Extension; VAPRISOL
AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined the
regulatory review period for VAPRISOL and is publishing this notice of
that determination as required by law. FDA has made the determination
because of the submission of an application to the Director of Patents
and Trademarks, Department of Commerce, for the extension of a patent
that claims that human drug product.
ADDRESSES: Submit written comments and petitions to the Division of
Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630
Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. Submit electronic comments
to http://www.fda.gov/dockets/ecomments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beverly Friedman, Office of Regulatory
Policy (HFD-7), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane,
Rockville, MD 20857, 301-594-2041.
[[Page 14820]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Drug Price Competition and Patent Term
Restoration Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-417) and the Generic Animal Drug
and Patent Term Restoration Act (Public Law 100-670) generally provide
that a patent may be extended for a period of up to 5 years so long as
the patented item (human drug product, animal drug product, medical
device, food additive, or color additive) was subject to regulatory
review by FDA before the item was marketed. Under these acts, a
product's regulatory review period forms the basis for determining the
amount of extension an applicant may receive.
A regulatory review period consists of two periods of time: A
testing phase and an approval phase. For human drug products, the
testing phase begins when the exemption to permit the clinical
investigations of the human drug product becomes effective and runs
until the approval phase begins. The approval phase starts with the
initial submission of an application to market the human drug product
and continues until FDA grants permission to market the product.
Although only a portion of a regulatory review period may count toward
the actual amount of extension that the Director of Patents and
Trademarks may award (for example, half the testing phase must be
subtracted, as well as any time that may have occurred before the
patent was issued), FDA's determination of the length of a regulatory
review period for a human drug product will include all of the testing
phase and approval phase as specified in 35 U.S.C. 156(g)(1)(B).
FDA recently approved for marketing the human drug product VAPRISOL
(conivaptan hydrochloride). VAPRISOL is indicated for treatment of
euvolemic hyponatremia in hospitalized patients. Subsequent to this
approval, the Patent and Trademark Office received a patent term
restoration application for VAPRISOL (U.S. Patent No. 5,723,606) from
Astellas Pharma, Inc., and the Patent and Trademark Office requested
FDA's assistance in determining this patent's eligibility for patent
term restoration. In a letter dated September 5, 2006, FDA advised the
Patent and Trademark Office that this human drug product had undergone
a regulatory review period and that the approval of VAPRISOL
represented the first permitted commercial marketing or use of the
product. Thereafter, the Patent and Trademark Office requested that FDA
determine the product's regulatory review period.
FDA has determined that the applicable regulatory review period for
VAPRISOL is 2,796 days. Of this time, 2,096 days occurred during the
testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 700 days occurred
during the approval phase. These periods of time were derived from the
following dates:
1. The date an exemption under section 505(i) of the Federal Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the act) (21 U.S.C. 355(i)) became effective:
May 6, 1998. FDA has verified the applicant's claim that the date the
Investigational New Drug application became effective was on May 6,
1998.
2. The date the application was initially submitted with respect to
the human drug product under section 505(b) of the act: January 30,
2004. FDA has verified the applicant's claim that the new drug
application (NDA) for VAPRISOL (NDA 21-697) was initially submitted on
January 30, 2004.
3. The date the application was approved: December 29, 2005. FDA
has verified the applicant's claim that NDA 21-697 was approved on
December 29, 2005.
This determination of the regulatory review period establishes the
maximum potential length of a patent extension. However, the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office applies several statutory limitations in
its calculations of the actual period for patent extension. In its
application for patent extension, this applicant seeks 1,745 days of
patent term extension.
Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published are
incorrect may submit to the Division of Dockets Management (see
ADDRESSES) written or electronic comments and ask for a redetermination
by May 29, 2007. Furthermore, any interested person may petition FDA
for a determination regarding whether the applicant for extension acted
with due diligence during the regulatory review period by September 25,
2007. To meet its burden, the petition must contain sufficient facts to
merit an FDA investigation. (See H. Rept. 857, part 1, 98th Cong., 2d
sess., pp. 41-42, 1984.) Petitions should be in the format specified in
21 CFR 10.30.
Comments and petitions should be submitted to the Division of
Dockets Management. Three copies of any mailed information are to be
submitted, except that individuals may submit one copy. Comments are to
be identified with the docket number found in brackets in the heading
of this document. Comments and petitions may be seen in the Division of
Dockets Management between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Dated: March 12, 2007.
Jane A. Axelrad,
Associate Director for Policy, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
[FR Doc. E7-5737 Filed 3-28-07; 8:45 am]
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