[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 64 (Monday, April 5, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17142-17143]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-7516]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket Nos. FDA-2009-E-0202 and FDA-2009-E-0204]


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

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

[[Page 17143]]

LUSEDRA and is publishing this notice of that determination as required 
by law. FDA has made the determination because of the submission of 
applications to the Director of Patents and Trademarks, Department of 
Commerce, for the extension of a patent which claims that human drug 
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.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beverly Friedman, Office of Regulatory 
Policy, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 
51, rm. 6222, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-3602.

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 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 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 LUSEDRA 
(fospropofol disodium). LUSEDRA is a sedative-hypnotic agent indicated 
for monitored anesthesia care sedation in adult patients undergoing 
diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. Subsequent to this approval, the 
Patent and Trademark Office received patent term restoration 
applications for LUSEDRA (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,204,257 and 6,872,838) 
from University of Kansas, and the Patent and Trademark Office 
requested FDA's assistance in determining the patents' eligibility for 
patent term restoration. In a letter dated September 29, 2009, FDA 
advised the Patent and Trademark Office that this human drug product 
had undergone a regulatory review period and that the approval of 
LUSEDRA represented the first permitted commercial marketing or use of 
the product. 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 
LUSEDRA is 2,405 days. Of this time, 1,962 days occurred during the 
testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 443 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: 
May 15, 2002. FDA has verified the applicant's claim that the date the 
investigational new drug application became effective was on May 15, 
2002.
    2. The date the application was initially submitted with respect to 
the human drug product under section 505(b) of the act: September 27, 
2007. FDA has verified the applicant's claim that the new drug 
application (NDA) 22-244 was submitted on September 27, 2007.
    3. The date the application was approved: December 12, 2008. FDA 
has verified the applicant's claim that NDA 22-244 was approved on 
December 12, 2008.
    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 
applications for patent extension, this applicant seeks 1,424 days of 
patent term extension for patent no. 6,204,257 and 899 days of patent 
term extension for patent no. 6,872,838.
    Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published are 
incorrect may submit to the Division of Dockets Management (see 
ADDRESSES) written or electronic comments and ask for a redetermination 
by June 4, 2010. 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 October 4, 
2010. 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: March 22, 2010.
Jane A. Axelrad,
Associate Director for Policy, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
[FR Doc. 2010-7516 Filed 4-2-10; 8:45 am]
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