[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 229 (Friday, November 27, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76082-76083]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-26229]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. FDA-2020-N-1898]
Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee;
Notice of Meeting; Establishment of a Public Docket; Request for
Comments
AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.
ACTION: Notice; establishment of a public docket; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) announces a
forthcoming public advisory committee meeting of the Vaccines and
Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. The general function of
the committee is to provide advice and recommendations to the Agency on
FDA's regulatory issues. The meeting will be open to the public. FDA is
establishing a docket for public comment on this document. Consistent
with FDA's regulations, this notice is being published with less than
15 days prior to the date of the meeting based on a determination that
convening a meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products
Advisory Committee as soon as possible is warranted. This Federal
Register notice could not be published 15 days prior to the date of the
meeting due to a recent submission of a request for Emergency Use
Authorization (EUA) for an investigational vaccine to prevent
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the need for prompt discussion
of such submission, given the COVID-19 pandemic.
DATES: The meeting will be held on December 10, 2020, from 9 a.m.
Eastern Time to 6 p.m. Eastern Time.
ADDRESSES: Please note that due to the impact of this COVID-19
pandemic, all meeting participants will be joining this advisory
committee meeting via an online teleconferencing platform. Answers to
commonly asked questions including information regarding special
accommodations due to a disability may be accessed at: https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/about-advisory-committees/common-questions-and-answers-about-fda-advisory-committee-meetings. The online
web conference meeting will be available at the following link on the
day of the meeting: https://fda.yorkcast.com/webcast/Play/d75d80a3eb6e419986181c1a881fe2671d.
FDA is establishing a docket for public comment on this meeting.
The docket number is FDA-2020-N-1898. The docket will close on December
9, 2020. Submit either electronic or written comments on this public
meeting by December 9, 2020. Please note that late, untimely filed
comments will not be considered. Electronic comments must be submitted
on or before December 9, 2020. The https://www.regulations.gov
electronic filing system will accept comments until 11:59 p.m. Eastern
Time at the end of December 9, 2020. Comments received by mail/hand
delivery/courier (for written/paper submissions) will be considered
timely if they are postmarked or the delivery service acceptance
receipt is on or before that date.
Comments received on or before December 4, 2020 will be provided to
the committee. Comments received after December 4, 2020, and by
December 9, 2020, will be taken into consideration by FDA. In the event
that the meeting is cancelled, FDA will continue to evaluate any
relevant applications, submissions, or information, and consider any
comments submitted to the docket, as appropriate.
You may submit comments 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-2020-N-1898 for ``Vaccines and Related Biological Products; Notice
of Meeting; Establishment of a Public Docket; Request for Comments.''
Received comments, those filed in a timely manner (see ADDRESSES), 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, 240-402-7500.
[[Page 76083]]
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 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.'' FDA 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 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 the 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.govinfo.gov/content/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, 240-402-7500.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Prabhakara Atreya or Kathleen Hayes,
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug
Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. 6306, Silver
Spring, MD 20993-0002, 240-506-4946 or 301-796-7864, respectively;
[email protected]; or FDA Advisory Committee
Information Line, 1-800-741-8138 (301-443-0572 in the Washington, DC
area). A notice in the Federal Register about last minute modifications
that impact a previously announced advisory committee meeting cannot
always be published quickly enough to provide timely notice. Therefore,
you should always check the Agency's website at https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees and scroll down to the appropriate advisory
committee meeting link, or call the advisory committee information line
to learn about possible modifications before joining the meeting.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Agenda: The meeting presentations will be
heard, viewed, captioned, and recorded through an online
teleconferencing platform. The Committee will meet in open session to
discuss EUA of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for the prevention
of COVID-19 in individuals 16 years of age and older. EUA authority
allows FDA to help strengthen the nation's public health protections
against chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN) threats by
facilitating the availability and use of Medical Countermeasures (MCMs)
needed during public health emergencies. Under section 564 of the
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 360bbb-3), FDA may
allow unapproved medical products or unapproved uses of approved
medical products to be used in an emergency to diagnose, treat, or
prevent serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions caused by
CBRN threat agents when certain statutory criteria have been met,
including that there are no adequate, approved, and available
alternatives. Additional information about EUAs can be found at https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/mcm-legal-regulatory-and-policy-framework/emergency-use-authorization.
FDA intends to make background material available to the public no
later than 2 business days before the meeting. If FDA is unable to post
the background material on its website prior to the meeting, background
material will be made publicly available on FDA's website at the time
of the advisory committee meeting. Background material and the link to
the online teleconference meeting room will be available at https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar. Scroll
down to the appropriate advisory committee meeting link. The meeting
will include slide presentations with audio components to allow the
presentation of materials in a manner that most closely resembles an
in-person advisory committee meeting.
Procedure: Interested persons may present data, information, or
views, orally or in writing, on issues pending before the committee.
All electronic and written submissions submitted to the Docket (see
ADDRESSES) on or before December 4, 2020, will be provided to the
committee. Comments received after December 4, 2020, and by December 9,
2020, will be taken into consideration by FDA. Oral presentations from
the public will be scheduled between approximately 12 p.m. Eastern Time
and 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Those individuals interested in making formal
oral presentations should notify the contact person and submit a brief
statement of the general nature of the evidence or arguments they wish
to present, the names and addresses of proposed participants, and an
indication of the approximate time requested to make their presentation
on or before December 2, 2020. Time allotted for each presentation may
be limited. If the number of registrants requesting to speak is greater
than can be reasonably accommodated during the scheduled open public
hearing session, FDA may conduct a lottery to determine the speakers
for the scheduled open public hearing session. The contact person will
notify interested persons regarding their request to speak by December
3, 2020.
For press inquiries, please contact the Office of Media Affairs at
[email protected] or 301-796-4540.
FDA welcomes the attendance of the public at its advisory committee
meetings and will make every effort to accommodate persons with
disabilities. If you require accommodations due to a disability, please
contact Prabhakara Atreya or Kathleen Hayes
([email protected]) at least 7 days in advance of the
meeting.
FDA is committed to the orderly conduct of its advisory committee
meetings. Please visit our website at: https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/about-advisory-committees/public-conduct-during-fda-advisory-committee-meetings for procedures on public conduct during
advisory committee meetings.
Notice of this meeting is given under the Federal Advisory
Committee Act (5 U.S.C. app. 2).
Dated: November 23, 2020.
Lauren K. Roth,
Acting Principal Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2020-26229 Filed 11-25-20; 8:45 am]
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