E9-9643. Science Board to the Food and Drug Administration; Notice of Meeting

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of a public advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The meeting will be open to the public.

Name of Committee: Science Board to the Food and Drug Administration (Science Board).

General Function of the Committee: The Science Board provides advice primarily to the Commissioner of Food and Drugs and other appropriate officials on specific complex and technical issues, as well as emerging issues within the scientific community in industry and academia. Additionally, the Science Board provides advice to the agency on keeping pace with technical and scientific evolutions in the fields of regulatory science, on formulating an appropriate research agenda, and on upgrading its scientific and research facilities to keep pace with these changes. It will also provide the means for critical review of agency sponsored intramural and extramural scientific research programs.

Date and Time: The meeting will be held on Monday, May 18, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Addresses: Hilton Washington DC/Rockville Hilton, 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852.

Contact Person: Carlos Peña, Office of the Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration (HF-33), 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301-827-6687, or FDA Advisory Committee Information Line, 1-800-741-8138 (301-443-0572 in the Washington, DC area), code 3014512603. Please call the Information Line for up-to-date information on this meeting. A notice in the Federal Register about last minute modifications that impact a previously announced advisory committee meeting cannot always be published quickly enough to provide timely notice. Therefore, you should always check the agency's Web site and call the appropriate advisory committee hot line/phone line to learn about possible modifications before coming to the meeting.

Agenda: The Science Board will hear about and discuss updates from the following subcommittees: (1) The review of each Center's projects within scientific priority areas, (2) the review of research at the Center for Veterinary Medicine, and (3) the review of FDA's scientific information technology infrastructure modernization initiatives. The Science Board will also hear updates on rapid detection of Salmonella in foods and the handling of biospecimens used for genomic and proteomic analyses.

FDA intends to make background material available to the public no later than 2 business days before the meeting. If FDA is unable to post the background material on its Web site prior to the meeting, the background material will be made publicly available at the location of the advisory committee meeting, and the background material will be posted on FDA's Web site after the meeting. Background material is available at http://www.fda.gov/​ohrms/​dockets/​ac/​acmenu.htm, click on the year 2009 and scroll down to the appropriate advisory committee link.

Procedure: Interested persons may present data, information, or views, orally or in writing, on issues pending before the committee. Written submissions may be made to the contact person on or before May 11, 2009. Oral presentations from the public will be scheduled between approximately 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Those desiring to make formal oral presentations should notify the contact person and submit a brief statement of the general nature of the evidence or arguments they wish to present, the names and addresses of proposed participants, and an indication of the approximate time requested to make their presentation on or before May 7, 2009. Time allotted for each presentation may be limited. If the number of registrants requesting to speak is greater than can be reasonably accommodated during the scheduled open public hearing session, FDA may conduct a lottery to determine the speakers for the scheduled open public hearing session. The contact person will notify interested persons regarding their request to speak by May 8, 2009.

Persons attending FDA's advisory committee meetings are advised that the agency is not responsible for providing access to electrical outlets.

FDA welcomes the attendance of the public at its advisory committee meetings and will make every effort to accommodate persons with physical disabilities or special needs. If you require special accommodations due to a disability, please contact Dr. Carlos Peña at least 7 days in advance of the meeting.

FDA is committed to the orderly conduct of its advisory committee meetings. Please visit our Web site at http://www.fda.gov/​oc/​advisory/​default.htm for procedures on public conduct during advisory committee meetings.

Notice of this meeting is given under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. app. 2).

Dated: April 22, 2009.

Randall W. Lutter,

Deputy Commissioner for Policy.