[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 92 (Tuesday, May 13, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27314-27315]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-10904]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. FDA-2012-E-1230]


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

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 SURFAXIN 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 drug product.

ADDRESSES: Submit electronic comments to http://www.regulations.gov. 
Submit written petitions (two copies are required) and written comments 
to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug 
Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. 
Submit petitions electronically to http://www.regulations.gov at Docket 
No. FDA-2013-S-0610.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beverly Friedman, Office of 
Management, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug 
Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 51, Rm. 6257, Silver 
Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-7900.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Drug Price Competition and Patent Term 
Restoration Act of 1984 (Pub. L. 98-417) and the Generic Animal Drug 
and Patent Term Restoration Act (Pub. L. 100-670) generally provide 
that a patent may be

[[Page 27315]]

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 has approved for marketing the human drug product SURFAXIN 
(lucinactant, which is a combination of four active ingredients--
sinapultide, colfosceril palmitate, POPG (1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-
glycero-3-phosphoglycerol), and palmitic acid). SURFAXIN is indicated 
for the prevention of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in premature 
infants at high risk for RDS. Subsequent to this approval, the Patent 
and Trademark Office received a patent term restoration application for 
SURFAXIN (U.S. Patent No. 5,407,914) from Discovery Laboratories, Inc., 
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 4, 2013, FDA advised the Patent and Trademark 
Office that this human drug product had undergone a regulatory review 
period and that the approval of SURFAXIN 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 
SURFAXIN is 7,124 days. Of this time, 4,239 days occurred during the 
testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 2,885 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 FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 355(i)) became 
effective: September 5, 1992. FDA has verified the applicant's claim 
that the date the investigational new drug application became effective 
was on September 5, 1992.
    2. The date the application was initially submitted with respect to 
the human drug product under section 505(b) of the FD&C Act: April 13, 
2004. FDA has verified the applicant's claim that the new drug 
application (NDA) for SURFAXIN (NDA 21-746) was submitted on April 13, 
2004.
    3. The date the application was approved: March 6, 2012. FDA has 
verified the applicant's claim that NDA 21-746 was approved on March 6, 
2012.
    This determination of the regulatory review period establishes the 
maximum potential length of a patent extension. However, the 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 5 years of 
patent term extension.
    Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published are 
incorrect may submit to the Division of Dockets Management (see 
ADDRESSES) either electronic or written comments and ask for a 
redetermination by July 14, 2014. 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 10, 2014. 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.
    Interested persons may submit to the Division of Dockets Management 
(see ADDRESSES) electronic or written comments and written or 
electronic petitions. It is only necessary to send one set of comments. 
Identify comments with the docket number found in brackets in the 
heading of this document. If you submit a written petition, two copies 
are required. A petition submitted electronically must be submitted to 
http://www.regulations.gov, Docket No. FDA-2013-S-0610. Comments and 
petitions that have not been made publicly available on http://www.regulations.gov may be viewed in the Division of Dockets Management 
between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

    Dated: May 7, 2014.
Leslie Kux,
Assistant Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2014-10904 Filed 5-12-14; 8:45 am]
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