20644 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 66 / Thursday, April 5, 2012 / Notices 

Committees/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. app. 2). 

Dated: March 30, 2012. 

Jill Hartzler Warner, 

Acting Associate Commissioner for Special 

Medical Programs. 

[FR Doc. 2012–8167 Filed 4–4–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Food and Drug Administration 

[Docket No. FDA–2007–E–0482] 

Determination of Regulatory Review 

Period for Purposes of Patent 

Extension; FLECTOR 

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, 

HHS. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Food and Drug 

Administration (FDA) has determined 

the regulatory review period for 

FLECTOR 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 drug product. 

ADDRESSES: Submit electronic 

comments to http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Submit written 

petitions along with three copies and 

written comments to the Division of 

Dockets Management (HFA–305), Food 

and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers 

Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. 

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 (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 

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 approved for marketing the 

human drug product FLECTOR 

(diclofenac epolamine). FLECTOR is 

indicated for the topical treatment of 

acute pain due to minor strains, sprains, 

and contusions. Subsequent to this 

approval, the Patent and Trademark 

Office received a patent term restoration 

application for FLECTOR (U.S. Patent 

No. 5,607,690) from Altergon S.A., and 

Teikoku Seiyaku Co., Ltd., and the 

Patent and Trademark Office requested 

FDA’s assistance in determining this 

patent’s eligibility for patent term 

restoration and that FDA determine the 

product’s regulatory review period. In a 

letter dated March 20, 2012, FDA 

advised the Patent and Trademark 

Office that this human drug product had 

undergone a regulatory review period 

and that the approval of FLECTOR 

represented the first permitted 

commercial marketing or use of the 

product. 

FDA has determined that the 

applicable regulatory review period for 

FLECTOR is 4,031 days. Of this time, 

1,796 days occurred during the testing 

phase of the regulatory review period, 

while 2,235 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 FD&C Act) (21 

U.S.C. 355(i)) became effective: January 

20, 1996. FDA has verified the 

applicant’s claim that the date the 

investigational new drug application 

became effective was on January 20, 

1996. 

2. The date the application was 

initially submitted with respect to the 

human drug product under section 

505(b) of the FD&C Act: December 19, 

2000. The applicant claims December 

18, 2000, as the date the new drug 

application (NDA) for FLECTOR (NDA 

21–344) was initially submitted. 

However, FDA records indicate that 

NDA 21–234 is the correct application 

number for FLECTOR, rather than NDA 

21–344. NDA 21–234 for FLECTOR was 

submitted on December 19, 2000. 

3. The date the application was 

approved: January 31, 2007. FDA has 

verified the applicant’s claim that 

FLECTOR (NDA 21–234) was approved 

on January 31, 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 1,825 days 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) either 

electronic or written comments and ask 

for a redetermination by June 4, 2012. 

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 

October 2, 2012. 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. 

Interested persons may submit to the 

Division of Dockets Management (see 

ADDRESSES) electronic or written 

comments and written petitions. It is 

only necessary to send one set of 

comments. However, if you submit a 

written petition, you must submit three 

copies of the petition. Identify 

comments with the docket number 

found in brackets in the heading of this 

document. 

Comments and petitions that have not 

been made publicly available on 

regulations.gov may be viewed in the 

Division of Dockets Management 

between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday 

through Friday. 

Dated: March 16, 2012. 

Jane A. Axelrad, 

Associate Director for Policy, Center for Drug 

Evaluation and Research. 

[FR Doc. 2012–8235 Filed 4–4–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–01–P 


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