Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Patent Extension: LEXISCAN

Federal Register: August 24, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 162)

Notices

Page 42678

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

DOCID:fr24au09-71

Page 42678

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

Docket Nos. FDA-2009-E-0048 and FDA 2009-E-0047

Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent

Extension; LEXISCAN

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined the regulatory review period for LEXISCAN 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 patents which claim 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 LEXISCAN

(regadenoson monohydrate). LEXISCAN is indicated for radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging in patients unable to undergo adequate exercise stress. Subsequent to this approval, the Patent and Trademark

Office received patent term restoration applications for LEXISCAN (U.S.

Patent Nos. 6,403,567 and 6,642,210) from CV Therapeutics, Inc., and the Patent and Trademark Office requested FDA's assistance in determining the patents' eligibilities for patent term restoration. In a letter dated February 26, 2009, FDA advised the Patent and Trademark

Office that this human drug product had undergone a regulatory review period and that the approval of LEXISCAN 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

LEXISCAN is 2,446 days. Of this time, 2,113 days occurred during the testing phase of the regulatory review period, while 333 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:

August 1, 2001. The applicant claims August 2, 2001, as the date the investigational new drug application (IND) became effective. However,

FDA records indicate that the IND effective date was August 1, 2001, which was 30 days after FDA receipt of the IND. 2. The date the application was initially submitted with respect to the human drug product under section 505(b) of the act: May 14, 2007.

FDA has verified the applicant's claim that the new drug application

(NDA) 22-161 was submitted on May 14, 2007. 3. The date the application was approved: April 10, 2008. FDA has verified the applicant's claim that NDA 22-161 was approved on April 10, 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 1,024 days and 977 days of patent term extension, respectively.

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 October 23, 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

February 22, 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: July 31, 2009.

Jane A. Axelrad,

Associate Director for Policy, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

FR Doc. E9-20307 Filed 8-21-09; 8:45 am

BILLING CODE 4160-01-S