2023-17261. Formal Meetings Between the Food and Drug Administration and Sponsors or Applicants of Biosimilar User Fee Act Products; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice of availability.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of a draft guidance for industry entitled “Formal Meetings Between the FDA and Sponsors or Applicants of BsUFA Products.” This draft guidance provides recommendations to industry on formal meetings between FDA and sponsors or applicants relating to the development and review of biosimilar or interchangeable biosimilar products regulated by the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) or the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). This draft guidance for industry revises and replaces the draft guidance of the same name issued in June 2018.

DATES:

Submit either electronic or written comments on the draft guidance by October 10, 2023 to ensure that the Agency considers your comment on this draft guidance before it begins work on the final version of the guidance.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments on any guidance at any time 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–2018–D–1922 for “Formal Meetings Between the Food and Drug Administration and Sponsors or Applicants of Biosimilar User Fee Act Products.” 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, 240–402–7500.

• 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.govinfo.gov/​content/​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, 240–402–7500.

You may submit comments on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR 10.115(g)(5)).

Submit written requests for single copies of the draft guidance to the Division of Drug Information, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, 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. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for electronic access to the guidance document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Sandra Benton, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 22, Rm. 1132, Silver Spring, MD 20993, 301–796–1042, [e-mail]; or Anne Taylor, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. 7301, Silver Spring, MD 20993–0002, 240–402–7911.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

FDA is announcing the availability of a draft guidance for industry entitled “Formal Meetings Between the FDA and Sponsors or Applicants of BsUFA Products.” This draft guidance provides recommendations to industry on formal meetings between FDA and sponsors or applicants relating to the development and review of biosimilar or interchangeable biosimilar products regulated by CDER or CBER. This draft guidance does not apply to meetings associated with the development of products intended for submission in, or review of, new drug applications or abbreviated new drug applications under section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 355), biologics license applications (BLAs) under section 351(a) of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) (42 U.S.C. 262(a)), or submissions for devices under the FD&C Act. For the purposes of this draft guidance, a formal meeting includes any meeting that is requested by a sponsor or applicant following the procedures provided in this draft guidance and includes meetings conducted in any format ( i.e., in-person, virtual (video conference), teleconference, or written response only). This guidance discusses the principles of good meeting management practices and describes standardized procedures for requesting, preparing, scheduling, conducting, and documenting such formal meetings.

This draft guidance for industry revises and replaces the draft guidance of the same name issued on June 5, 2018 (83 FR 26060). This revision includes:

• Changes to the data expectations in Biosimilar Initial Advisory meeting requests
• Addition of Biological Product Development (BPD) Type 2a meeting
• Changes to when the meeting background package is submitted for BPD Type 4 meeting
• Changes to the description of the available meeting formats
• Addition of an option for a request for clarification

FDA also made certain clarifying and editorial changes. Editorial changes were made primarily for clarification.

This draft guidance is being issued consistent with FDA's good guidance practices regulation (21 CFR 10.115). The draft guidance, when finalized, will represent the current thinking of FDA on “Formal Meetings Between the FDA and Sponsors or Applicants of BsUFA Products.” 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. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

While this guidance contains no collection of information, it does refer to previously approved FDA collections of information. Therefore, clearance by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501–3521) is not required for this guidance. The previously approved collections of information are subject to review by OMB under the PRA. The collections of information in 21 CFR part 312 regarding sponsor requests to FDA related to the submission of an investigational new drug application have been approved under OMB control number 0910–0014. The collections of information in section 351(a) of the PHS Act and part 601 (21 CFR part 601) relating to the submission of a BLA have been approved under OMB control number 0910–0338. The collections of information in section 351(k) of the PHS Act and part 601 relating to the submission of biosimilar applications and biosimilar user fee applications have been approved under OMB control number 0910–0718.

III. Electronic Access

Persons with access to the internet may obtain the draft guidance at https://www.fda.gov/​drugs/​guidance-compliance-regulatory-information/​guidances-drugs, https://www.fda.gov/​vaccines-blood-biologics/​guidance-compliance-regulatory-information-biologics/​biologics-guidances, https://www.fda.gov/​regulatory-information/​search-fda-guidance-documents, or https://www.regulations.gov.

Dated: August 7, 2023.

Lauren K. Roth,

Associate Commissioner for Policy.