Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent Extension; ZemuronSUPTM Injection

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

[Docket No. 94E-0234]

Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent

Extension; ZemuronTM Injection

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 ZemuronTM Injection 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

Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Department of Commerce, for the

extension of a patent which claims that human drug product.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and petitions should be directed to the

Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, rm.

1-23, 12420 Parklawn Dr., Rockville, MD 20857.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian J. Malkin, Office of Health

Affairs (HFY-20), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane,

Rockville, MD 20857, 301-443-1382.

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 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 Commissioner 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

ZemuronTM Injection. ZemuronTM Injection (rocuronium bromide)

is indicated for inpatients and outpatients as an adjunct to general

anesthesia to facilitate both rapid sequence and routine tracheal

intubation, and to provide skeletal muscle relaxation during surgery or

mechanical ventilation. Subsequent to this approval, the Patent and

Trademark Office received a patent term restoration application for

ZemuronTM Injection (U.S. Patent No. 4,894,369) from Akzo Nobel,

N.V., and the Patent and Trademark Office requested FDA's assistance in

determining this patent's eligibility for patent term restoration. FDA,

in a letter dated July 6, 1994, advised the Patent and Trademark Office

that this human drug product had undergone a regulatory review period

and that the approval of ZemuronTM Injection 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

ZemuronTM Injection is 1,889 days. Of this time, 1,627 days

occurred during the testing phase of the regulatory review period,

while 262 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 became effective: January 15, 1994. The

applicant claims January 14, 1989, as the date the investigational new

drug application (IND) became effective. However, FDA records indicate

that the IND effective date was January 15, 1994, 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 Federal Food, Drug,

and Cosmetic Act: June 29, 1993. FDA has verified the applicant's claim

that the new drug application (NDA) for ZemuronTM Injection (NDA

20-214) was initially submitted on June 29, 1993.

3. The date the application was approved: March 17, 1994. FDA has

verified the applicant's claim that NDA 20-214 was approved on March

17, 1994.

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 427 days of

patent term extension.

Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published is

incorrect may, on or before November 14, 1994, submit to the Dockets

Management Branch (address above) written comments and ask for a

redetermination. Furthermore, any interested person may petition FDA,

on or before March 14, 1995, for a determination regarding whether the

applicant for extension acted with due diligence during the regulatory

review period. 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 Dockets

Management Branch (address above) in three copies (except that

individuals may submit single copies) and identified with the docket

number found in brackets in the heading of this document. Comments and

petitions may be seen in the Dockets Management Branch between 9 a.m.

and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Dated: August 31, 1994.

Stuart L. Nightingale,

Associate Commissioner for Health Affairs.

[FR Doc. 94-22760 Filed 9-14-94; 8:45 am]

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