[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 233 (Monday, December 6, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75678-75679]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-30512]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket Nos. FDA-2010-E-0032 and FDA-2010-E-0036]
Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent
Extension; STELARA
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 STELARA 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
which claims that human biological product.
ADDRESSES: Submit electronic comments to http://www.regulations.gov.
Submit written petitions along with three copies and written comments
to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug
Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beverly Friedman, Office of Regulatory
Policy, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg.
51, Rm. 6222, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-3602.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Drug Price Competition and Patent Term
Restoration Act of 1984 (Pub. L. 98-417) and the Generic Animal Drug
and Patent Term Restoration Act (Pub. L. 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
[[Page 75679]]
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 biological products, the
testing phase begins when the exemption to permit the clinical
investigations of the biological becomes effective and runs until the
approval phase begins. The approval phase starts with the initial
submission of an application to market the human biological product and
continues until FDA grants permission to market the biological 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 biological 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 biologic product
STELARA (ustekinumab). STELARA is indicated for treatment of adult
patients with severe plaque psoriasis who are candidates for
phototherapy or systemic therapy. Subsequent to this approval, the
Patent and Trademark Office received a patent term restoration
application for STELARA (U.S. Patent No. 6,902,734 and 7,166,285) from
Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc., and the Patent and Trademark Office
requested FDA's assistance in determining the patents' eligibility for
patent term restoration. In a letter dated March 24, 2010, FDA advised
the Patent and Trademark Office that this human biological product had
undergone a regulatory review period and that the approval of STELARA
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
STELARA is 3,165 days. Of this time, 2,498 days occurred during the
testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 667 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 (21 U.S.C. 355(i)) became effective: January 27,
2001. The applicant claims December 28, 2000 as the date the
investigational new drug application (IND) became effective. However,
FDA records indicate that the IND effective date was January 27, 2001,
which was 30 days after FDA receipt of the IND.
2. The date the application was initially submitted with respect to
the human biological product under section 351 of the Public Health
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 262): November 29, 2007. FDA has verified the
applicant's claim that the biologics license application (BLA) for
STELARA (BLA 125261/0) was initially submitted on November 29, 2007.
3. The date the application was approved: September 25, 2009. FDA
has verified the applicant's claim that BLA 125261/0 was approved on
September 25, 2009.
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
applications for patent extension, this applicant seeks 425 or 510 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) either electronic or written comments and ask for a
redetermination by February 4, 2011. 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 June 6, 2011. 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.
Interested persons may submit to the Division of Dockets Management
(see ADDRESSES) electronic or written comments and written petitions.
It is only necessary to send one set of comments. It is no longer
necessary to send three copies of mailed comments. However, if you
submit a written petition, you must submit three copies of the
petition. Identify comments with the docket number found in brackets in
the heading of this document. Comments and petitions that have not been
made publicly available on regulations.gov may be viewed in the
Division of Dockets Management between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday
through Friday.
Dated: October 22, 2010.
Jane A. Axelrad,
Associate Director for Policy, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
[FR Doc. 2010-30512 Filed 12-3-10; 8:45 am]
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