[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 101 (Friday, May 25, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29333-29334]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-10087]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. 2007E-0009]
Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent
Extension; MYOZYME
AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.
[[Page 29334]]
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined the
regulatory review period for MYOZYME 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 comments and petitions to the Division of
Dockets Management (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: Beverly Friedman, Office of Regulatory
Policy (HFD-007), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane,
Rockville, MD 20857, 301-594-2041.
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 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
MYOZYME (recombinant human acid alpha glucosidase). MYOZYME is
indicated for use in patients with Pompe disease (GAA deficiency).
Subsequent to this approval, the Patent and Trademark Office received a
patent term restoration application for MYOZYME (U.S. Patent No.
6,118,045) from Genzyme Corp., Erasmus MC, Erasmus Universiteit, and
The Universiteit Leiden, and the Patent and Trademark Office requested
FDA's assistance in determining this patent's eligibility for patent
term restoration. In a letter dated February 6, 2007, FDA advised the
Patent and Trademark Office that this human biological product had
undergone a regulatory review period and that the approval of MYOZYME
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
MYOZYME is 1,225 days. Of this time, 950 days occurred during the
testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 275 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: December
22, 2002. The applicant claims November 25, 2002, as the date the
investigational new drug application (IND) became effective. However,
FDA records indicate that the IND effective date was December 22, 2002,
which was 30 days after FDA receipt of the IND.
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): July 28, 2005. The applicant claims July
29, 2005, as the date the biologics license application (BLA) for
MYOZYME (BLA 125141/0) was initially submitted. However, FDA records
indicate that BLA 125141/0 was submitted on July 28, 2005.
3. The date the application was approved: April 28, 2006. FDA has
verified the applicant's claim that BLA 125141/0 was approved on April
28, 2006.
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 1,251 days of
patent term extension.
Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published is
incorrect may submit to the Division of Dockets Management (see
ADDRESSES) written or electronic comments and ask for a redetermination
by July 24, 2007. 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 November 21,
2007. 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: May 7, 2007.
Jane A. Axelrad,
Associate Director for Policy, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
[FR Doc. E7-10087 Filed 5-25-07; 8:45 am]
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