E8-12870. Joint Meeting of the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee and the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee; 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 Committees: Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee and the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee.

General Function of the Committees: To provide advice and recommendations to the agency on FDA's regulatory issues.

Date and Time: The meeting will be held on July 10, 2008, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Location: Sheraton College Park Hotel, The Ballroom, 4095 Powder Mill Rd., Beltsville, MD, 301-937-4422.

Contact Person: Yvette Waples, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (HFD-21), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane (for express delivery, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1093), Rockville, MD 20857, 301-827-7001, FAX: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail], or FDA Advisory Committee Information Line, 1-800-741-8138 (301-443-0572 in the Washington, DC area), codes 3014512543 and 3014512544. 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 Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee, the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee, representatives from the Pediatric Advisory Committee, and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee will consider the results of FDA's analysis of suicidality (both suicidal ideation and behavior) from placebo-controlled clinical studies of 11 drugs. The following drugs will be considered: (1) Carbamazepine (marketed as CARBATROL, Shire Pharmaceuticals, EQUETRO, Validus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., TEGRETOL, Tegretol XR, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.); (2) felbamate (marketed as FELBATOL, Meda Pharmaceuticals, Inc.); (3) gabapentin (marketed as NEURONTIN, Pfizer, Inc.); (4) lamotrigine (marketed as LAMICTAL, GlaxoSmithKline); (5) levetiracetam (marketed as KEPPRA, UCB, Inc.); (6) oxcarbazepine (marketed as TRILEPTAL, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.); (7) pregabalin (marketed as LYRICA, Pfizer Inc.); (8) tiagabine (marketed as GABITRIL, Cephalon, Inc.); (9) topiramate (marketed as TOPAMAX, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,); (10) valproate (marketed as DEPAKOTE, DEPAKOTE ER, DEPAKENE, DEPACON, Abbott Laboratories); and (11) zonisamide (marketed as ZONEGRAN, Dainippon). FDA will discuss with the committee actions taken in light of the results and whether any additional actions are necessary.

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 2008 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 June 25, 2008. Oral presentations from the public will be scheduled between approximately 1 p.m. and 3 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 June 17, 2008. 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 June 18, 2008.

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 Yvette Waples 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: June 2, 2008.

Randall W. Lutter,

Deputy Commissioner for Policy.