2024-21077. Integrating Randomized Controlled Trials for Drug and Biological Products Into Routine Clinical Practice; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability

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Department of Health and Human Services

Food and Drug Administration

1. [Docket No. FDA-2024-D-2052]

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of a draft guidance for industry entitled “Integrating Randomized Controlled Trials for Drug and Biological Products Into Routine Clinical Practice.” FDA is publishing this draft guidance as part of a series of guidance documents under its Real-World Evidence (RWE) Program and to satisfy, in part, a mandate under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to issue guidance about the use of RWE in regulatory decision-making. This draft guidance is intended to support the conduct of randomized controlled drug trials with streamlined protocols and procedures that can integrate research into routine clinical practice.

DATES:

Submit either electronic or written comments on the draft guidance by December 17, 2024 to ensure that the Agency considers your comment on this draft guidance before it begins work on the final version of the guidance.

( print page 76483)

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-2024-D-2052 for “Integrating Randomized Controlled Trials for Drug and Biological Products Into Routine Clinical Practice.” 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 onhttps://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, 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 draft guidance document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Heather Stone, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 51, Rm. 3348, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-2274, [e-mail]; or James Myers, 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 “Integrating Randomized Controlled Trials for Drug and Biological Products Into Routine Clinical Practice.” This draft guidance is intended to support the conduct of randomized controlled drug trials with streamlined protocols and procedures that focus on essential data, allowing integration of research into routine clinical practice. Depending on the condition and the intervention to be studied, the spectrum of trial designs may range from those that are almost completely reliant on data acquired by the participant's local healthcare providers during routine clinical practice visits to those that require significant supplementation with dedicated, research-specific activities for data collection conducted by trial staff.

Traditional randomized controlled drug trials typically capture a large amount of protocol-specified patient information ( e.g., patient characteristics, medical history, concomitant medications, vital signs, adverse events, laboratory results, measures of drug response, clinical status) at baseline and over the course of the trial. Some of these data are also collected in routine clinical practice, although the specific procedures and methods, timing of collection, and documentation formats typically differ from those in a clinical trial. Given the potential overlap in information collected, data for clinical research can, under appropriate circumstances, be obtained from routine clinical practice interactions, reducing the need for dedicated trial sites.

This draft guidance applies to studies involving FDA-approved drugs being studied for new indications, populations, or doses; drug safety studies for FDA-approved drugs; other postmarketing studies; comparative effectiveness studies; and trials of unapproved drugs in later development when the safety profile is sufficiently characterized and the drug is appropriate to be administered and managed in the setting of routine clinical practice. This guidance does not address non-interventional (observational) studies.

Among other things, the draft guidance provides considerations ( print page 76484) regarding the roles and responsibilities of sponsors, investigators, healthcare institutions, and local healthcare providers and addresses using a quality by design approach to facilitate the conduct of trials in the clinical practice setting.

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 “Integrating Randomized Controlled Trials for Drug and Biological Products Into Routine Clinical Practice.” 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. The previously approved collections of information are subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521). The collections of information in 21 CFR parts 50 and 56 have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0130; the collections of information in 21 CFR part 312 have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0014; the collections of information in 21 CFR part 314 have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0001; and the collections of information in 21 CFR part 601 have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0338.

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: September 12, 2024.

Lauren K. Roth,

Associate Commissioner for Policy.