01-18130. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) Regulations for Nonclinical Laboratory Studies

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing that the proposed collection of information listed below has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES:

Submit written comments on the collection of information by August 20, 2001.

ADDRESSES:

Submit written comments on the collection of information to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, New Executive Office Bldg., 725 17th St. NW., rm. 10235, Washington, DC 20503, Attn: Wendy Taylor, Desk Officer for FDA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

JonnaLynn P. Capezzuto, Office of Information Resources Management (HFA-250), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301-827-4659.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

In compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, FDA has submitted the following proposed collection of information to OMB for review and clearance.

Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) Regulations for Nonclinical Laboratory Studies—(21 CFR Part 58)—(OMB Control Number 0910-0119)—Extension

Sections 409, 505, 512, and 515 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 348, 355, 360b, and 360e) and related statutes require manufacturers of food additives, human drugs and biological products, animal drugs, and medical devices to demonstrate the safety and utility of their product by submitting applications to FDA for research or marketing permits. Such applications contain, among other important items, full reports of all studies done to demonstrate product safety in man and/or other animals. In order to ensure adequate quality control for these studies and to provide an adequate degree of consumer protection, the agency issued the GLP regulations. The regulations specify minimum standards for the proper conduct of safety testing and contain sections on facilities, personnel, equipment, standard operating procedures (SOPs), test and control articles, quality assurance, protocol and conduct of a safety study, records and reports, and laboratory disqualification.

The GLP regulations contain requirements for the reporting of the results of quality assurance unit inspections, test and control article characterization, testing of mixtures of test and control articles with carriers, and an overall interpretation of nonclinical laboratory studies. The GLP regulations also contain recordkeeping requirements relating to the conduct of safety studies. Such records include: (1) Personnel job descriptions and summaries of training and experience; (2) master schedules, protocols and amendments thereto, inspection reports, and SOPs; (3) equipment inspection, maintenance, calibration, and testing records; (4) documentation of feed and water analyses and animal treatments; (5) test article accountability records; and (6) study documentation and raw data.

The information collected under GLP regulations is generally gathered by testing facilities routinely engaged in conducting toxicological studies and is used as part of an application for a research or marketing permit that is voluntarily submitted to FDA by persons desiring to market new products. The facilities that collect this information are typically operated by large entities, e.g., contract laboratories, sponsors of FDA-regulated products, universities, or government agencies. Failure to include the information in a filing to FDA would mean that agency scientific experts could not make a valid determination of product safety. FDA receives, reviews, and approves hundreds of new product applications each year based on information received. The recordkeeping requirements are necessary to document the proper conduct of a safety study, to assure the quality and integrity of the resulting final report, and to provide adequate proof of the safety of regulated products. FDA conducts onsite audits of records and reports, during its inspections of testing laboratories, to verify reliability of results submitted in applications.

In the Federal Register of April 30, 2001 (66 FR 21396), FDA published a 60-day notice requesting public comment on the information collection provisions. No comments were received.

FDA estimates the burden of this collection of information as follows:

Table 1.—Estimated Annual Reporting Burden¹

21 CFR Section	No. of Responses	Annual Frequency per Response	Total Annual Responses	Hours per ­Response	Total Hours
58.35(b)(7)	300	60.25	18,075	1	18,075
58.185	300	60.25	18,075	27.65	499,774
Total					517,849
1 There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs associated with this collection of information.

Table 2.—Estimated Annual Recordkeeping Burden¹

21 CFR Section	No. of ­Recordkeepers	Annual Frequency per ­Recordkeeping	Total Annual Records	Hours per ­Recordkeeper	Total Hours
58.29(b)	300	20	6,000	.21	1,260
58.35(b)(1) through (b)(6) and (c)	300	270.76	81,228	3.36	279,926
58.63(b) and (c)	300	60	18,000	.09	1,620
58.81(a) through (c)	300	301.8	90,540	.14	12,676
58.90(c) and (g)	300	62.7	18,810	.13	2,445
58.105(a) and (b)	300	5	1,500	11.8	17,700
58.107(d)	300	1	300	4.25	1,275
58.113(a)	300	15.33	4,599	6.8	31,273
58.120	300	15.38	4,614	32.7	150,878
58.195	300	251.5	75,450	3.9	294,255
Total					793,308
1 There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs associated with this collection of information.

Dated: July 12, 2001.

Margaret M. Dotzel,

Associate Commissioner for Policy.