[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 184 (Friday, September 21, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48689-48690]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-23702]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. 01E-0092]


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

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 Rescula 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. Submit electronic comments to 
http://www.fda.gov/dockets/ecomments..

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 
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 Rescula 
(unoprostone isopropyl ester). Rescula is indicated for the lowering of 
intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular 
hypertension who are intolerant of other intraocular pressure lowering 
medications or insufficiently responsive (failed to achieve target IOP 
determined after multiple measurements over time) to another 
intraocular pressure lowering

[[Page 48690]]

medication. Subsequent to this approval, the Patent and Trademark 
Office received a patent term restoration application for Rescula (U.S. 
Patent No. 5,221,763) from R-Tech Veno, Ltd./ Novartis, and the Patent 
and Trademark Office requested FDA's assistance in determining this 
patent's eligibility for patent term restoration. In a letter dated May 
3, 2001, FDA advised the Patent and Trademark Office that this human 
drug product had undergone a regulatory review period and that the 
approval of Rescula 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 
Rescula is 1,347 days. Of this time, 1,186 days occurred during the 
testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 161 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: 
November 27, 1996. The applicant claims October 25, 1996, as the date 
the investigational new drug application (IND) became effective. 
However, FDA records indicate that the IND effective date was November 
27, 1996, 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: February 25, 
2000. The applicant claims February 14, 2000, as the date the new drug 
application (NDA) for Rescula (NDA 21-214) was initially submitted. 
However, FDA records indicate that NDA 21-214 was submitted on February 
25, 2000.
    3. The date the application was approved: August 3, 2000. FDA has 
verified the applicant's claim that NDA 21-214 was approved on August 
3, 2000.
    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 774 days of 
patent term extension.
    Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published are 
incorrect may submit to the Dockets Management Branch (address above) 
written comments and ask for a redetermination by November 20, 2001. 
Furthermore, any interested person may petition FDA for a determination 
regarding whether the applicant for extension acted with due diligence 
during the regulatory review period by March 20, 2002. 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. Three copies of any information are to be submitted 
except that individuals may submit one copy. Comments are to be 
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. 01-23702 Filed 9-20-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-S