[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 184 (Friday, September 21, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48688-48689]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-23701]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. 00E-1251]


Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent 
Extension; Synercid

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined the 
regulatory review period for Synercid 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 that claims that human drug product.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments and petitions to the Dockets 
Management Branch (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers 
Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Claudia V. Grillo, Office of 
Regulatory Policy (HFD-007), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers 
Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301-594-5645.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Drug Price Competition and Patent Term 
Restoration Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-417) and the Generic Animal Drug 
and Patent Term Restoration Act (Public Law 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

[[Page 48689]]

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 Synercid 
(quinupristin and dalfopristin). Synercid is indicated for the 
treatment of patients with serious or life threatening infections 
associated with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF) 
bacteremia. Subsequent to this approval, the Patent and Trademark 
Office received a patent term restoration application for Synercid 
(U.S. Patent No. 4,668,669) from Rhone Poulenc Rorer S.A., 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 26, 2000, FDA advised the Patent and Trademark Office that 
this human drug product had undergone a regulatory review period and 
that the approval of Synercid represented the first permitted 
commercial marketing or use of the product. Subsequently, 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 
Synercid is 1,919 days. Of this time, 1,172 days occurred during the 
testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 747 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, and Cosmetic Act (the act) (21 U.S.C. 355(i)) became effective: 
June 22, 1994. The applicant claims June 23, 1994, as the date the 
investigational new drug application (IND) became effective. However, 
FDA records indicate that the IND effective date was June 22, 1994, 
which was 30 days after FDA receipt of the IND.
    2. The date the application was initially submitted with respect to 
the human drug product under section 505(b) of the act: September 5, 
1997. FDA has verified the applicant's claim that the new drug 
application (NDA) for Synercid (NDA 50-747) was initially submitted on 
September 5, 1997.
    3. The date the application was approved: September 21, 1999. FDA 
has verified the applicant's claim that NDA 50-747 was approved on 
September 21, 1999.
    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 1,333 days of 
patent term extension.
    Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published is 
incorrect may, on or before November 20, 2001, 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 March 20, 2002, 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: September 5, 2001.
Jane A. Axelrad,
Associate Director for Policy, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
[FR Doc. 01-23701 Filed 9-20-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-S