2014-13640. Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent Extension; Arctic Front Cryocatheter System

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined the regulatory review period for Arctic Front Cryocatheter System and is publishing this notice of that determination as required by law. FDA has made the determination because of the submission of applications to the Director of Patents and Trademarks, Department of Commerce, for the extension of patents which claim that medical device.

ADDRESSES:

Submit electronic comments to http://www.regulations.gov. Submit written petitions (two copies are required) and written comments to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. Submit petitions electronically to http://www.regulations.gov at Docket No. FDA-2013-S-0610.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Beverly Friedman, Office of Management, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 51, Rm. 6257, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-7900.

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 medical devices, the testing phase begins with a clinical investigation of the device and runs until the approval phase begins. The approval phase starts with the initial submission of an application to market the device and continues until permission to market the device is granted. 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 (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 medical device will include all of the testing phase and approval phase as specified in 35 U.S.C. 156(g)(3)(B).

FDA has approved for marketing the medical device, Arctic Front Cryocatheter System. Arctic Front Cryocatheter System is indicated for treatment of drug refractory recurrent symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Subsequent to this approval, the Patent and Trademark Office received patent term restoration applications for Arctic Front Cryocatheter System (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,575,966; 7,648,497; and 7,727,228) from Medtronic CryoCath LP, and the Patent and Trademark Office requested FDA's assistance in determining the patents' eligibility for patent term restoration. In a letter dated March 6, 2012, FDA advised the Patent and Trademark Office that this medical device had undergone a regulatory review period and that the approval of Arctic Front Cryocatheter System 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 Arctic Front Cryocatheter System is 2,670 days. Of this time, 2,389 days occurred during the testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 281 days occurred during the approval phase. These periods of time were derived from the following dates:

1. The date an exemption under section 520(g) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 360j(g)) involving this device became effective: August 28, 2003. FDA has verified the applicant's claim that the date the investigational device exemption required under section 520(g) of the FD&C Act for human tests to begin became effective was August 28, 2003.

2. The date an application was initially submitted with respect to the device under section 515 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 360e): March 12, 2010. FDA has verified the applicant's claim that the premarket approval application (PMA) for Arctic Front Cryocatheter System (PMA P100010) was initially submitted March 12, 2010.

3. The date the application was approved: December 17, 2010. FDA has verified the applicant's claim that PMA P100010 was approved on December 17, 2010.

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 200, 307, or 1,476 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 August 11, 2014. 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 December 9, 2014. 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 or electronic petitions. It is only necessary to send one set of comments. Identify comments with the docket number found in brackets in the heading of this document. If you submit a written petition, two copies are required. A petition submitted electronically must be submitted to http://www.regulations.gov, Docket No. FDA-2013-S-0610. Comments and petitions that have not been made publicly available on http://www.regulations.gov may be viewed in the Division of Dockets Management between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Dated: June 5, 2014.

Leslie Kux,

Assistant Commissioner for Policy.