[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 124 (Thursday, June 27, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30730-30732]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-13702]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. FDA-2019-D-1828]


E19 Optimisation of Safety Data Collection; International Council 
for Harmonisation; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing 
the availability of a draft guidance for industry entitled ``E19 
Optimisation of Safety Data Collection.'' The draft guidance was 
prepared under the auspices of the International Council for 
Harmonisation (ICH), formerly the International Conference on 
Harmonisation. The draft guidance provides recommendations regarding 
appropriate use of a selective approach to safety data collection in 
some late-stage pre- or postmarketing studies of drugs where the safety 
profile, with respect to commonly occurring adverse events, is well 
understood and documented. The draft guidance is intended to advance 
important clinical research questions through the conduct of clinical 
investigations that collect relevant patient data, which will enable an 
adequate benefit-risk assessment of the drug for its intended use, 
while reducing the burden to patients from unnecessary tests that may 
yield limited additional information.

DATES: Submit either electronic or written comments on the draft 
guidance by September 25, 2019 to ensure that the Agency considers your 
comment on this draft guidance before it begins work on the final 
version of the guidance.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on any guidance at any time as 
follows:

Electronic Submissions

    Submit electronic comments in the following way:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted 
electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov 
will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be 
made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment 
does not include any confidential information that you or a third party 
may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone 
else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, 
such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your 
name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in 
the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
     If you want to submit a comment with confidential 
information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, 
submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner 
detailed (see ``Written/Paper Submissions'' and ``Instructions'').

Written/Paper Submissions

    Submit written/paper submissions as follows:
     Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier (for written/paper 
submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug 
Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
     For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets 
Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any 
attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, 
as confidential, if submitted as detailed in ``Instructions.''
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. 
FDA-2019-D-1828 for ``E19 Optimisation of Safety Data Collection.'' 
Received comments will be placed in the docket and, except for those 
submitted as ``Confidential Submissions,'' publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. 
and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
     Confidential Submissions--To submit a comment with 
confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly 
available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You 
should submit two

[[Page 30731]]

copies total. One copy will include the information you claim to be 
confidential with a heading or cover note that states ``THIS DOCUMENT 
CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.'' The Agency will review this copy, 
including the claimed confidential information, in its consideration of 
comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed confidential 
information redacted/blacked out, will be available for public viewing 
and posted on https://www.regulations.gov. Submit both copies to the 
Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name and contact 
information to be made publicly available, you can provide this 
information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your comments and 
you must identify this information as ``confidential.'' Any information 
marked as ``confidential'' will not be disclosed except in accordance 
with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. For more 
information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, see 80 
FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or access the information at: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-09-18/pdf/2015-23389.pdf.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in 
the heading of this document, into the ``Search'' box and follow the 
prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, 
Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
    You may submit comments on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR 
10.115(g)(5)).
    Submit written requests for single copies of this guidance to the 
Division of Drug Information, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, 
Food and Drug Administration, 10001 New Hampshire Ave., Hillandale 
Building, 4th Floor, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002; or the Office of 
Communication, Outreach and Development, Center for Biologics 
Evaluation and Research (CBER), Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New 
Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. 3128, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002. Send 
one self-addressed adhesive label to assist that office in processing 
your requests. The guidance may also be obtained by mail by calling 
CBER at 1-800-835-4709 or 240-402-8010. See the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section for electronic access to the draft guidance 
document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
    Regarding the guidance: Ellis Unger, Center for Drug Evaluation and 
Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 
22, Rm. 4200, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-2270; or Stephen 
Ripley, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug 
Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. 7301, Silver 
Spring, MD 20993-0002, 240-402-7911.
    Regarding the ICH: Amanda Roache, Center for Drug Evaluation and 
Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 
51, Rm. 6364, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-4548.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    In recent years, regulatory authorities and industry associations 
from around the world have participated in many important initiatives 
to promote international harmonization of regulatory requirements under 
the ICH. FDA has participated in several ICH meetings designed to 
enhance harmonization, and FDA is committed to seeking scientifically 
based harmonized technical procedures for pharmaceutical development. 
One of the goals of harmonization is to identify and reduce differences 
in technical requirements for drug development among regulatory 
agencies.
    ICH was established to provide an opportunity for harmonization 
initiatives to be developed with input from both regulatory and 
industry representatives. FDA also seeks input from consumer 
representatives and others. ICH is concerned with harmonization of 
technical requirements for the registration of pharmaceutical products 
for human use among regulators around the world. The six founding 
members of the ICH are the European Commission; the European Federation 
of Pharmaceutical Industries Associations; FDA; the Japanese Ministry 
of Health, Labour, and Welfare; the Japanese Pharmaceutical 
Manufacturers Association; and the Pharmaceutical Research and 
Manufacturers of America. The Standing Members of the ICH Association 
include Health Canada and Swissmedic. Any party eligible as a Member in 
accordance with the ICH Articles of Association can apply for 
membership in writing to the ICH Secretariat. The ICH Secretariat, 
which coordinates the preparation of documentation, operates as an 
international nonprofit organization and is funded by the Members of 
the ICH Association.
    The ICH Assembly is the overarching body of the Association and 
includes representatives from each of the ICH members and observers. 
The Assembly is responsible for endorsing draft guidelines and adopting 
final guidelines. FDA publishes ICH guidelines as FDA guidance.
    In November 2018, the ICH Assembly endorsed the draft guidance 
entitled ``E19 Optimisation of Safety Data Collection'' and agreed that 
the guidance should be made available for public comment. The draft 
guidance is the product of the E19 Expert Working Group of the ICH. 
Comments about this draft guidance will be considered by FDA and the 
E19 Expert Working Group.
    The draft guidance provides recommendations regarding appropriate 
use of a selective approach to safety data collection in some late-
stage pre- or postmarketing studies of drugs where the safety profile, 
with respect to commonly occurring adverse events, is well understood 
and documented. Recognizing that protection of patient welfare during 
drug development is critically important, unnecessary data collection 
may be burdensome to patients and serve as a disincentive to 
participation in clinical research. By tailoring safety data collection 
in some circumstances, the burden to patients would be reduced, a 
larger number of informative clinical studies could be carried out with 
greater efficiency, studies could be conducted with greater global 
participation, and the public health would be better served. The 
proposed guidance would be consistent with risk-based approaches and 
quality-by-design principles.
    The draft guidance discusses when selective safety data collection 
might be considered, what types of data could have limited or no 
collection under this approach, and how selective data collection might 
be implemented without compromising patient well-being or safety. The 
draft guidance is not intended to affect the reporting of postmarketing 
adverse events relevant to an approved drug or affect reporting of 
requirements under an investigational new drug application. The draft 
guidance is intended to advance important clinical research questions 
through the conduct of clinical investigations that collect relevant 
patient data, which will enable an adequate benefit-risk assessment of 
the drug for its intended use, while reducing the burden to patients 
from unnecessary tests that may yield limited additional information.
    This draft guidance has been left in the original ICH format. The 
final guidance will be reformatted and edited to conform with FDA's 
good guidance

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practices regulation (21 CFR 10.115) and style before publication. The 
draft guidance, when finalized, will represent FDA's current thinking 
on ``E19 Optimisation of Safety Data Collection.'' It does not 
establish any rights for any person and is not binding on FDA or the 
public. You can use an alternative approach if it satisfies the 
requirements of the applicable statutes and regulations. This guidance 
is not subject to Executive Order 12866.

II. Electronic Access

    Persons with access to the internet may obtain the draft guidance 
at https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/default.htm, https://www.regulations.gov, or https://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/GuidanceComplianceRegulatory 
Information/Guidances/default.htm.

    Dated: June 24, 2019.
Lowell J. Schiller,
Principal Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2019-13702 Filed 6-26-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4164-01-P