[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 50 (Monday, March 15, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12159-12160]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-5760]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. 2003E-0406]


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

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 FABRAZYME 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 Director of Patents 
and Trademarks, Department of Commerce, for the extension of a patent 
which claims that human biological product.

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Claudia Grillo, Office of Regulatory 
Policy (HFD-013), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, 
Rockville, MD 20857, 240-453-6699.

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

[[Page 12160]]

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 biological products, the 
testing phase begins when the exemption to permit the clinical 
investigations of the biological product becomes effective and runs 
until the approval phase begins. The approval phase starts with the 
initial submission of an application to market the human biological 
product and continues until FDA grants permission to market the 
biological product. Although only a portion of a regulatory review 
period may count toward the actual amount of extension that the 
Director 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 biological 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 biological product 
FABRAZYME (agalsidase beta). FABRAZYME is indicated for use in patients 
with Fabry disease. FABRAZYME reduces globotriaosylceramide (GL-3) 
deposition in capillary endothelium of the kidney and certain other 
cell types. Subsequent to this approval, the Patent and Trademark 
Office received a patent term restoration application for FABRAZYME 
(U.S. Patent No. 5,356,804) from Genzyme, and the Patent and Trademark 
Office requested FDA's assistance in determining this patent's 
eligibility for patent term restoration. In a letter dated November 18, 
2003, FDA advised the Patent and Trademark Office that this human 
biological product had undergone a regulatory review period and that 
the approval of FABRAZYME 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 
FABRAZYME is 1,843 days. Of this time, 807 days occurred during the 
testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 1,036 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 (21 U.S.C. 355(i)) became effective: April 9, 
1998. FDA has verified the applicant's claim that the date the 
investigational new drug application became effective was on April 9, 
1998.
    2. The date the application was initially submitted with respect to 
the human biological product under section 351 of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 262): June 23, 2000. FDA has verified the 
applicant's claim that the product license application (PLA) for 
FABRAZYME (PLA 103979/0) was initially submitted on June 23, 2000.
    3. The date the application was approved: April 24, 2003. FDA has 
verified the applicant's claim that PLA 103979/0 was approved on April 
24, 2003.
    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 1,438 days of 
patent term extension.
    Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published are 
incorrect may submit to theDivision of Dockets Management (see 
ADDRESSES) written or electronic comments and ask for a redetermination 
by May 14, 2004. 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 September 13, 
2004. 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 Division of 
Dockets Management. Three copies of any mailed 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 Division of 
Dockets Management between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

    Dated: February 17, 2004.
Jane A. Axelrad,
Associate Director for Policy, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
[FR Doc. 04-5760 Filed 3-12-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-S