# Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent Extension; QUADRAMETRegister

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URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3A98-19027

## Record

- **Collection:** Federal Register
- **Document type:** Notice
- **Published:** July 17, 1998
- **Citation:** 63 FR 38656

## Text

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. 97E-0291]

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

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 QUADRAMET 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,

[[Page 38657]]

5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian J. Malkin, Office of Health
Affairs (HFY-20), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane,
Rockville, MD 20857, 301-827-6620.

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
QUADRAMET (samarium sm 153 EDTMP). QUADRAMET is
indicated for relief of pain in patients with confirmed osteoblastic
metastatic bone lesions that enhance radionuclide bone scan. Subsequent
to this approval, the Patent and Trademark Office received a patent
term restoration application for QUADRAMET (U.S. Patent No.
4,898,724) from The Dow Chemical Co., and the Patent and Trademark
Office requested FDA's assistance in determining this patent's
eligibility for patent term restoration. In a letter dated November 7,
1997, FDA advised the Patent and Trademark Office that this human drug
product had undergone a regulatory review period and that the approval
of QUADRAMET represented the first permitted commercial
marketing or use of the product. Shortly thereafter, the Patent and
Trademark Office requested that the FDA determine the product's
regulatory review period.
FDA has determined that the applicable regulatory review period for
QUADRAMET is 2,844 days. Of this time, 2,189 days occurred
during the testing phase of the regulatory review period, 655 days
occurred during the approval phase. These periods of time were derived
from the following dates:
1. The date an exemption under section 505 of the Federal Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the act) became effective (21 U.S.C. 355): June
16, 1989.
The applicant claims January 28, 1986, as the date the
investigational new drug application (IND) for QUADRAMET (IND
33,240) became effective for purposes of regulatory review period
determination. Applicant also states the notice of clinical
investigation exemption was submitted on May 16, 1989. However, FDA
records indicate that the IND effective date was June 16, 1989, which
was 30 days after FDA receipt of IND 33,240.
2. The date the application was initially submitted with respect to
the human drug product under section 505 of the act: June 13, 1995.
FDA has verified the applicant's claim that the new drug
application (NDA) for QUADRAMET (NDA 20,570) was initially
submitted on June 13, 1995.
3. The date the application was approved: March 28, 1997. FDA has
verified the applicant's claim that NDA 20,570 was approved on March
28, 1997.
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 1,412 days of
patent term extension.
Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published is
incorrect may, on or before September 15, 1998, 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 January 13, 1999, 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: June 23, 1998.
Thomas J. McGinnis,
Deputy Associate Commissioner for Health Affairs.
[FR Doc. 98-19027 Filed 7-16-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-F

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3A98-19027. Public record. Not legal advice.
