
[Federal Register: February 10, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 26)]
[Notices]
[Page 6637-6638]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10fe09-80]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. FDA-2008-E-0107]


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

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 MIRCERA 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 or electronic 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 biological products, the
testing phase begins when the exemption to permit the clinical
investigations of the biological 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

[[Page 6638]]

approval phase as specified in 35 U.S.C. 156(g)(1)(B).
    FDA recently approved for marketing the human biologic product
MIRCERA (methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta). MIRCERA is
indicated for the treatment of anemia associated with chronic renal
failure, including patients on dialysis and patients not on dialysis.
Subsequent to this approval, the Patent and Trademark Office received a
patent term restoration application for MIRCERA (U.S. Patent No.
6,583,272) from Hoffmann-La Roche 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 April 22,
2008, FDA advised the Patent and Trademark Office that this human
biological product had undergone a regulatory review period and that
the approval of MIRCERA 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
MIRCERA is 2,140 days. Of this time, 1,565 days occurred during the
testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 575 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: January 6,
2002. The applicant claims January 3, 2002, as the date the
investigational new drug application (IND) became effective. However,
FDA records indicate that the IND effective date was January 6, 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): April 19, 2006. The applicant claims April
18, 2006, as the date the biologics license application (BLA) for
MIRCERA (BLA B125164/0) was initially submitted. However, FDA records
indicate that BLA B125164/0 was submitted on April 19, 2006.
    3. The date the application was approved: November 14, 2007. FDA
has verified the applicant's claim that BLA B125164/0 was approved on
November 14, 2007.
    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 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) written or electronic comments and ask for a redetermination
by April 13, 2009. 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 August 10,
2009. 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: February 2, 2009.
Jane A. Axelrad,
Associate Director for Policy, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
[FR Doc. E9-2812 Filed 2-9-09; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160-01-S
