[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 137 (Tuesday, July 18, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36812-36813]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-17503]



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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
[Docket No. 95E-0089]


Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent 
Extension; NAVELBINE Injection

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined the 
regulatory review period for NAVELBINE Injection and is 
publishing this notice of that determination as required by law. FDA 
has made the determination because of the submission of an application 
to the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Department of Commerce, 
for the extension of a patent which claims that human drug product.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and petitions should be directed to the 
Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, rm. 
1-23, 12420 Parklawn Dr., Rockville, MD 20857.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian J. Malkin, Office of Health 
Affairs (HFY-20), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, 
Rockville, MD 20857, 301-443-1382.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Drug Price Competition and Patent Term 
Restoration Act of 1984 (Pub. L. 98-417) and the Generic Animal Drug 
and Patent Term Restoration Act (Pub. L. 100-670) generally provide 
that a patent may be extended for a period of up to 5 years so long as 
the patented item (human drug product, animal drug product, medical 
device, food additive, or color additive) was subject to regulatory 
review by FDA before the item was marketed. Under these acts, a 
product's regulatory review period forms the basis for determining the 
amount of extension an applicant may receive.
    A regulatory review period consists of two periods of time: A 
testing phase and an approval phase. For human drug products, the 
testing phase begins when the exemption to permit the clinical 
investigations of the drug becomes effective and runs until the 
approval phase begins. The approval phase starts with the initial 
submission of an application to market the human drug product and 
continues until FDA grants permission to market the drug product. 
Although only a portion of a regulatory review period may count toward 
the actual amount of extension that the Commissioner of Patents and 
Trademarks may award (for example, half the testing phase must be 
subtracted as well as any time that may have occurred before the patent 
was issued), FDA's determination of the length of a regulatory review 
period for a human drug product will include all of the testing phase 
and approval phase as specified in 35 U.S.C. 156(g)(1)(B).
    FDA recently approved for marketing the human drug product 
NAVELBINE Injection (vinorelbine tartrate). 
NAVELBINE Injection is indicated as a single agent or in 
combination with cisplatin for the first-line treatment in patients 
with unresectable, advanced nonsmall lung cancer. Subsequent to this 
approval, the Patent and Trademark Office received a patent term 
restoration application for NAVELBINE Injection (U.S. Patent 
No. 4,307,100) from Burroughs Wellcome Co., and the Patent and 
Trademark Office requested FDA's assistance in determining this 
patent's eligibility for patent term restoration. In a letter dated 
April 18, 1995, FDA advised the Patent and Trademark Office that this 
human drug product had undergone a regulatory review period and that 
the approval of NAVELBINE Injection represented the first 
permitted commercial marketing or use of the product. Shortly 
thereafter, the Patent and Trademark Office requested that FDA 
determine the product's regulatory review period.
    FDA has determined that the applicable regulatory review period for 
NAVELBINE Injection is 1,621 days. Of this time, 1,137 days 
occurred during the testing phase of the regulatory review period, 
while 484 days occurred during the approval phase. These periods of 
time were derived from the following dates:
    1. The date an exemption under section 505(i) of the Federal Food, 
Drug, 

[[Page 36813]]
and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355(i)) became effective: July 18, 1990. 
The applicant claims June 18, 1990, as the date the investigational new 
drug application (IND) became effective. However, FDA records indicate 
that the IND effective date was July 18, 1990, which was 30 days after 
FDA receipt of the IND.
    2. The date the human drug was initially submitted with respect to 
the human drug product under section 505(b) of the Federal Food, Drug, 
and Cosmetic Act: August 27, 1993. FDA has verified the applicant's 
claim that the new drug application (NDA) for NAVELBINE 
Injection (NDA 20-388) was initially submitted on August 27, 1993.
    3. The date the application was approved: December 23, 1994. FDA 
has verified the applicant's claim that NDA 20-388 was approved on 
December 23, 1994.
    This determination of the regulatory review period establishes the 
maximum potential length of a patent extension. However, the U.S. 
Patent and Trademark Office applies several statutory limitations in 
its calculations of the actual period for patent extension. In its 
application for patent extension, this applicant seeks 1,067 days of 
patent term extension. -
    Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published is 
incorrect may, on or before September 18, 1995, submit to the Dockets 
Management Branch (address above) written comments and ask for a 
redetermination. Furthermore, any interested person may petition FDA, 
on or before January 15, 1996, for a determination regarding whether 
the applicant for extension acted with due diligence during the 
regulatory review period. To meet its burden, the petition must contain 
sufficient facts to merit an FDA investigation. (See H. Rept. 857, part 
1, 98th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 41-42, 1984.) Petitions should be in the 
format specified in 21 CFR 10.30.
    Comments and petitions should be submitted to the Dockets 
Management Branch (address above) in three copies (except that 
individuals may submit single copies) and identified with the docket 
number found in brackets in the heading of this document. Comments and 
petitions may be seen in the Dockets Management Branch between 9 a.m. 
and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

    Dated: June 30, 1995.
Stuart L. Nightingale,
Associate Commissioner for Health Affairs.
[FR Doc. 95-17503 Filed 7-17-95; 8:45 am]
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