[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 172 (Thursday, September 7, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61598-61600]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-19284]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. FDA-2023-N-1190]


Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee; Notice 
of Meeting; Establishment of a Public Docket; Request for Comments--
Sickle Cell Disease

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) announces a forthcoming 
public advisory committee meeting of the Cellular, Tissue, and Gene 
Therapies Advisory Committee (the Committee). The general function of 
the Committee is to provide advice and recommendations to FDA on 
regulatory issues. On October 31, 2023, the Committee will discuss and 
make recommendations on biologics license application (BLA) 125787 from 
Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel). 
The applicant has requested an indication for the treatment of sickle 
cell disease in patients 12 years and older with recurrent vaso-
occlusive crises. The meeting will be open to the public. FDA is 
establishing a docket for public comment on this document.

DATES: The meeting will be held on October 31, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 5 
p.m. Eastern Time.

ADDRESSES: All meeting participants will be heard, viewed, captioned, 
and recorded for this advisory committee meeting via an online 
teleconferencing and/or video conferencing platform. Answers to 
commonly asked questions about FDA advisory committee meetings may be 
accessed at: https://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/AboutAdvisoryCommittees/ucm408555.htm.
    The online web conference meeting will be available at the 
following link on the day of the meeting at https://youtube.com/live/M90IjjxOdQg.
    FDA is establishing a docket for public comment on this meeting. 
The docket number is FDA-2023-N-1190. The docket will close on October 
30, 2023. Please note that late, untimely filed comments will not be 
considered. The https://www.regulations.gov electronic filing system 
will accept comments until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time at the end of 
October 30, 2023. Comments received by mail/hand delivery/courier (for 
written/paper submissions) will be considered timely if they are 
received on or before that date.
    Comments received on or before October 24, 2023, will be provided 
to the Committee. Comments received after that date and on October 30, 
2023, will be taken into consideration by FDA. In the event that the 
meeting is cancelled, FDA will continue to evaluate any relevant 
applications 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:
    <bullet> 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.
    <bullet> 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

[[Page 61599]]

manner detailed (see ``Written/Paper Submissions'' and 
``Instructions'').

Written/Paper Submissions

    Submit written/paper submissions as follows:
    <bullet> 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.
    <bullet> 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-2023-N-1190 for ``Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapies Advisory 
Committee; Notice of Meeting; Establishment of a Public Docket; Request 
for Comments--Sickle Cell Disease, Meeting Date: October 31, 2023.'' 
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.
    <bullet> 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 to 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: Cicely Reese or Marie DeGregorio, 
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug 
Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 71, Rm. 1246, Silver 
Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-9025, email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b0f3f2f5e2f3e4f7e4f1f3f0d6d4d19ed8d8c39ed7dfc6"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b8fbfafdeafbecffecf9fbf8dedcd996d0d0cb96dfd7ce">[email protected]</span></a>, 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 FDA's website at 
https://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/default.htm and scroll down to 
the appropriate advisory committee meeting link, or call the advisory 
committee information line to learn about possible modifications before 
the meeting.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Agenda: The meeting presentations will be heard, viewed, captioned, 
and recorded through an online teleconferencing and/or video 
conferencing platform. On October 31, 2023, the Committee will discuss 
and make recommendations on BLA 125787 from Vertex Pharmaceuticals, 
Inc. for exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel). The applicant has 
requested an indication for the treatment of sickle cell disease in 
patients 12 years and older with recurrent vaso-occlusive crises.
    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, the 
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 and/or video conference meeting will 
be available at https://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/Calendar/default.htm. Scroll down to the appropriate advisory committee meeting 
link. The meeting will include slide presentations with audio and video 
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 October 24, 2023, will be provided to the 
Committee. Oral presentations from the public will be scheduled between 
approximately 12:35 p.m. and 1:35 p.m. Eastern Time on October 31, 
2023. 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, along 
with the names, email addresses, and direct contact phone numbers of 
proposed participants, and an indication of the approximate time 
requested to make their presentation on or before 12 p.m. Eastern Time 
on October 16, 2023. 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 6 p.m. 
Eastern Time on October 18, 2023.
    For press inquiries, please contact the Office of Media Affairs at 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#85c3c1c4cac8c4c5e3e1e4abededf6abe2eaf3"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c58381848a888485a3a1a4ebadadb6eba2aab3">[email protected]</span></a> 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 Cicely Reece or Marie DeGregorio at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#591a1b1c0b1a0d1e0d181a193f3d387731312a773e362f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="aae9e8eff8e9feedfeebe9eacccecb84c2c2d984cdc5dc">[email protected]</span></a> (see 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) 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/AdvisoryCommittees/AboutAdvisoryCommittees/ucm111462.htm 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. 1001 et seq.). This meeting notice also serves 
as notice that, pursuant to 21 CFR 10.19, the requirements in 21 CFR 
14.22(b), (f), and (g) relating to the location of advisory committee 
meetings are hereby waived to allow for this

[[Page 61600]]

meeting to take place using an online meeting platform. This waiver is 
in the interest of allowing greater transparency and opportunities for 
public participation, in addition to convenience for advisory committee 
members, speakers, and guest speakers. No participant will be 
prejudiced by this waiver, and that the ends of justice will be served 
by allowing for this modification to FDA's advisory committee meeting 
procedures.

    Dated: September 1, 2023.
Lauren K. Roth,
Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2023-19284 Filed 9-6-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4164-01-P


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