[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 48 (Friday, March 11, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-5635]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: March 11, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
[Docket No. 92E-0472]
Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent
Extension; Sporanox
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 Sporanox 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, rm.
1-23, 12420 Parklawn Dr., Rockville, MD 20857.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian J. Malkin, Office of Health
Affairs (HFY-20), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane,
Rockville, MD 20857, 301-443-1382.
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
Sporanox. Sporanox (itraconazole) is indicated for
the treatment of the following fungal infections in immunocompromised
and nonimmunocompromised patients: (1) blastomycosis, pulmonary and
extrapulmonary, and (2) histoplasmosis, including chronic cavitary
pulmonary disease and disseminated, nonmeningeal histoplasmosis.
Subsequent to this approval, the Patent and Trademark Office received a
patent term restoration application for Sporanox (U.S. Patent
No. 4,267,179) from Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., and the Patent and
Trademark Office requested FDA's assistance in determining this
patents's eligibility for patent term restoration. FDA, in a letter
dated December 8, 1992, advised the Patent and Trademark Office that
this human drug product had undergone a regulatory review period and
that the approval of Sporanox represented the first
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
Sporanox is 2,990 days. Of this time, 2,155 days occurred
during the testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 835
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 became effective: July 7, 1984. The applicant
claims June 7, 1984, as the date the investigational new drug
application (IND) became effective. However, FDA records indicate that
the IND effective date was July 7, 1984, 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(b) of the Federal Food, Drug,
and Cosmetic Act: May 31, 1990. The applicant claims May 30, 1990, as
the date the new drug application (NDA) for Sporanox (NDA 20-
083) was initially submitted. However, FDA records indicate that NDA
20-083 was initially submitted on May 31, 1990.
3. The date the application was approved: September 11, 1992. FDA
has verified the applicant's claim that NDA 20-083 was approved on
September 11, 1992.
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 1,510 days of
patent term extension.
Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published is
incorrect may, on or before May 10, 1994, 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 September 7, 1994, 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 28, 1993.
Stuart L. Nightingale,
Associate Commissioner for Health Affairs.
[FR Doc. 94-5635 Filed 3-10-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-F
