2017-15537. Recommendations for the Permitted Daily Exposures for Two Solvents, Triethylamine and Methylisobutylketone, According to the Maintenance Procedures for the Guidance Q3C Impurities: Residual Solvents; International Council for ...

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice of availability.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of recommendations for a new permitted daily exposure (PDE) for the residual solvent triethylamine and a revised PDE for the residual solvent methylisobutylketone. The PDEs were developed according to the methods for establishing exposure limits included in the guidance for industry entitled “Q3C Impurities: Residual Solvents.” The recommendations were prepared under the auspices of the International Council for Harmonisation (ICH), formerly the International Conference on Harmonisation. The document is intended to recommend acceptable amounts for the listed residual solvents in pharmaceuticals for the safety of the patient.

DATES:

Submit either electronic or written comments on Agency guidances at any time.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments as follows:

Electronic Submissions

Submit electronic comments in the following way:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment does not include any confidential information that you or a third party may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
• If you want to submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner detailed (see “Written/Paper Submissions” and “Instructions”).

Written/Paper Submissions

Submit written/paper submissions as follows:

• Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for written/paper submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
• For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, as confidential, if submitted as detailed in “Instructions.”

Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. FDA-2015-D-3474 for “Recommendations for the Permitted Daily Exposures for Two Solvents, Triethylamine and Methylisobutylketone, According to the Maintenance Procedures for the Guidance Q3C Impurities: Residual Solvents; International Council for Harmonisation; Guidance for Industry; Availability.” Received comments will be placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as “Confidential Submissions,” publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

• Confidential Submissions—To submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states “THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.” The Agency will review this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in its consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be available for public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov. Submit both copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name and contact information to be made publicly available, you can provide this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your comments and you must identify this information as “confidential.” Any information marked as “confidential” will not be disclosed except in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. For more information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, see 80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or access the information at: https://www.gpo.gov/​fdsys/​pkg/​FR-2015-09-18/​pdf/​2015-23389.pdf.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in the heading of this document, into the “Search” box and follow the prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.

Submit written requests for single copies of this guidance to the Division of Drug Information, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), Food and Drug Administration, 10001 New Hampshire Ave., Hillandale Building, 4th Floor, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002; or the Office of Communication, Outreach and Development, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. 3128, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002. Send one self-addressed adhesive label to assist that office in processing your requests. The guidance may also be obtained by mail by calling CBER at 800-835-4709 or 240-402-8010. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for electronic access to the guidance document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

 

Regarding the guidance: Timothy J. McGovern, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 22, Rm. 6300, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 240-402-0477.

Regarding the ICH: Amanda Roache, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 51, Rm. 1176, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-4548.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

In recent years, many important initiatives have been undertaken by regulatory authorities and industry associations to promote international harmonization of regulatory requirements. FDA has participated in many meetings designed to enhance harmonization and is committed to seeking scientifically based harmonized technical procedures for pharmaceutical development. One of the goals of harmonization is to identify and then reduce differences in technical requirements for drug development among regulatory agencies.

ICH was organized to provide an opportunity for harmonization initiatives to be developed with input from both regulatory and industry representatives. FDA also seeks input from consumer representatives and others. ICH is concerned with harmonization of technical requirements for the registration of pharmaceutical products for human use among regulators around the world. The six founding members of the ICH are: The European Commission; the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries Associations; the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare; the Japanese Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association; CDER and CBER, FDA; and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. The Standing Members of the ICH Association include Health Canada and Swissmedic. Any party eligible as a Member in accordance with the ICH Articles of Association can apply for membership in writing to the ICH Secretariat. The ICH Secretariat, which coordinates the preparation of documentation, operates as an international nonprofit organization and is funded by the Members of the ICH Association. The ICH Assembly is the overarching body of the Association and includes representatives from each of the ICH members and observers.

In the Federal Register of December 24, 1997 (62 FR 67377), FDA published a notice announcing the availability of the ICH guidance for industry entitled “Q3C Impurities: Residual Solvents.” The guidance makes recommendations as to what amounts of residual solvents are considered toxicologically acceptable for some residual solvents. Upon issuance in 1997, the text and appendix 1 of the guidance contained several tables and a list of solvents categorizing residual solvents by toxicity, classes 1 through 3, with class 1 being the most toxic. The ICH Quality Expert Working Group (EWG) agreed that the PDE could be modified if reliable and more relevant toxicity data were brought to the attention of the group and the modified PDE could result in a revision of the tables and list.

In 1999, ICH instituted a Q3C maintenance agreement and formed a maintenance EWG (Q3C EWG). The agreement provided for the revisitation of solvent PDEs and allowed for minor changes to the tables and list that include the existing PDEs. The agreement also provided for new solvents and PDEs that could be added to the tables and list based on adequate toxicity data. In the Federal Register of February 12, 2002 (67 FR 6542), FDA briefly described the process for proposing future revisions to the PDE. In the same notice, the Agency announced its decision to delink the tables and list from the Q3C guidance and create a stand-alone document entitled “Q3C: Tables and List” to facilitate making changes recommended by ICH, available at https://www.fda.gov/​downloads/​drugs/​guidancecomplianceregulatoryinformation/​guidances/​ucm073395.pdf. The “Q3C: Tables and List” has been updated as of January 2017 to include the recommended PDE for triethylamine and methylisobutylketone.

In the Federal Register of October 16, 2015 (80 FR 62537), FDA published a notice announcing the availability of draft recommendations for the PDEs for two solvents, trimethylamine and methylisobutylketone, according to the maintenance procedures for the guidance entitled “Q3C Impurities: Residual Solvents,” available at https://www.fda.gov/​ucm/​groups/​fdagov-public/​@fdagov-drugs-gen/​documents/​document/​ucm073394.pdf. The notice gave interested persons an opportunity to submit comments by December 15, 2015. After consideration of the comments received and revisions to the guidance, a final draft of the recommendations was submitted to the ICH Assembly and endorsed by the regulatory agencies in November 2016.

The guidance provides a new PDE for the solvent trimethylamine and a revised PDE for the solvent methylisobutylketone. In addition, the data used to derive the PDEs are summarized. Revisions made to the final guidance as a result of comments include a modification of the PDE for methylisobutylketone from 22.6 milligrams (mg)/day to 45 mg/day based on reconsideration of the severity of effects identified in rat studies and the human relevance of effects identified in mouse carcinogenicity study. The recommendation to place methylisobutylketone into class 2 remains. The “Q3C: Tables and List” has been updated as of January 2017 to include the recommended PDE for triethylamine and methylisobutylketone.

This guidance is being issued consistent with FDA's good guidance practices regulation (21 CFR 10.115). The guidance represents the current thinking of FDA on “Q3C Impurities: Residual Solvents.” It does not establish any rights for any person and is not binding on FDA or the public. You can use an alternative approach if it satisfies the requirements of the applicable statutes and regulations.

II. Electronic Access

Persons with access to the Internet may obtain the document at https://www.fda.gov/​Drugs/​GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/​Guidances/​default.htm,, https://www.fda.gov/​BiologicsBloodVaccines/​GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/​Guidances/​default.htm,, or https://www.regulations.gov.

Dated: July 18, 2017.

Anna K. Abram,

Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Planning, Legislation, and Analysis.