[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 244 (Monday, December 21, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 70411]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-33639]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. 98E-0478]
Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent
Extension; Requip
AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined the
regulatory review period for Requip 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 Commissioner of
Patents and Trademarks, Department of Commerce, for the extension of a
patent which claims that human drug product.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and petitions should be directed to the
Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630
Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian J. Malkin, Office of Health
Affairs (HFY-20), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane,
Rockville, MD 20857, 301-827-6620.
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 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 drug 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 drug product.
Although only a portion of a regulatory review period may count toward
the actual amount of extension that the Commissioner 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 Requip
(ropinirole). Requip is indicated for the treatment of the signs and
symptoms of idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Subsequent to this
approval, the Patent and Trademark Office received a patent term
restoration application for Requip (U.S. Patent No. 4,452,808) from
SmithKline Beecham Corp., 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 9, 1998, FDA advised the
Patent and Trademark Office that this human drug product had undergone
a regulatory review period and that the approval of Requip represented
the first permitted commercial marketing or use of the product. Shortly
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
Requip is 3,356 days. Of this time, 2,729 days occurred during the
testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 627 days occurred
during the approval phase. These periods of time were derived from the
following dates:
1. The date an exemption under section 505 of the Federal Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the act) (21 U.S.C. 355) became effective: July
14, 1988. The applicant claims July 10, 1988, as the date the
investigational new drug application (IND) became effective. However,
FDA records indicate that the IND effective date was July 14, 1988,
which was 30 days after FDA receipt of the IND.
2. The date the application was initially submitted with respect to
the human drug product under section 505 of the act: January 2, 1996.
FDA has verified the applicant's claim that the new drug application
(NDA) for Requip (NDA 20-658) was initially submitted on January 2,
1996.
3. The date the application was approved: September 19, 1997. FDA
has verified the applicant's claim that NDA 20-658 was approved on
September 19, 1997.
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 1,826 days of
patent term extension.
Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published is
incorrect may, on or before February 19, 1999, submit to the Dockets
Management Branch (address above) written comments and ask for a
redetermination. Furthermore, any interested person may petition FDA,
on or before June 21, 1999, for a determination regarding whether the
applicant for extension acted with due diligence during the regulatory
review period. 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 Dockets
Management Branch (address above) in three copies (except that
individuals may submit single copies) and identified with the docket
number found in brackets in the heading of this document. Comments and
petitions may be seen in the Dockets Management Branch between 9 a.m.
and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Dated: December 4, 1998.
Thomas J. McGinnis,
Deputy Associate Commissioner for Health Affairs.
[FR Doc. 98-33639 Filed 12-18-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-F