Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 31 / Wednesday, February 14, 2024 / Notices 11301 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Food and Drug Administration 

[Docket No. FDA–2022–E–0761] 

Determination of Regulatory Review 

Period for Purposes of Patent 

Extension; ORGAN CARE SYSTEM 

HEART 

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, 

HHS. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Food and Drug 

Administration (FDA or the Agency) has 

determined the regulatory review period 

for ORGAN CARE SYSTEM HEART 

(OCS HEART SYSTEM) 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 the U.S. Patent and 

Trademark Office (USPTO), Department 

of Commerce, for the extension of a 

patent which claims that medical 

device. 

DATES: Anyone with knowledge that any 

of the dates as published (see 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION) are 

incorrect must submit either electronic 

or written comments and ask for a 

redetermination by April 15, 2024. 

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 

August 12, 2024. See ‘‘Petitions’’ in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for 

more information. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

as follows. 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 

April 15, 2024. Comments received by 

mail/hand delivery/courier (for written/ 

paper submissions) will be considered 

timely if they are received on or before 

that date. 

Electronic Submissions 

Submit electronic comments in the 

following way: 

• 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. 

• 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 

manner detailed (see ‘‘Written/Paper 

Submissions’’ and ‘‘Instructions’’). 

Written/Paper Submissions 

Submit written/paper submissions as 

follows: 

• 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. 

• 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– 

2022–E–0761 for ‘‘Determination of 

Regulatory Review Period for Purposes 

of Patent Extension; OCS HEART 

SYSTEM.’’ 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. 

• 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.’’ The 

Agency 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 this information as 

‘‘confidential.’’ Any information marked 

as ‘‘confidential’’ will not be disclosed 

except in accordance with § 10.20 (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: 

Beverly Friedman, Office of Regulatory 

Policy, Food and Drug Administration, 

10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 51, 

Rm. 6250, Silver Spring, MD 20993, 

301–796–3600. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

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 or biological 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 medical devices, 

the testing phase begins with a clinical 

investigation of the device and runs 

until the approval phase begins. The 

approval phase starts with the initial 

submission of an application to market 

the device and continues until 

permission to market the device is 

granted. Although only a portion of a 

regulatory review period may count 

toward the actual amount of extension 

that the Director of USPTO may award 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
11302 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 31 / Wednesday, February 14, 2024 / Notices 

(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 medical device will include all of the 

testing phase and approval phase as 

specified in 35 U.S.C. 156(g)(3)(B). 

FDA has approved for marketing the 

medical device OCS HEART SYSTEM. 

OCS HEART SYSTEM is indicated for 

the preservation of donor-after-braindeath hearts deemed unsuitable for 

procurement and transplantation at 

initial evaluation due to limitations of 

prolonged cold static cardioplegic 

preservation (e.g., >4 hours of crossclamp time). Subsequent to this 

approval, the USPTO received a patent 

term restoration application for the OCS 

HEART SYSTEM (U.S. Patent No. 

7,651,835) from TransMedics, Inc., and 

the USPTO requested FDA’s assistance 

in determining this patent’s eligibility 

for patent term restoration. In a letter 

dated September 28, 2022, FDA advised 

the USPTO that this medical device had 

undergone a regulatory review period 

and that the approval of the OCS 

HEART SYSTEM represented the first 

permitted commercial marketing or use 

of the product. Thereafter, the USPTO 

requested that FDA determine the 

product’s regulatory review period. 

II. Determination of Regulatory Review 

Period 

FDA has determined that the 

applicable regulatory review period for 

the OCS HEART SYSTEM is 5,518 days. 

Of this time, 4,535 days occurred during 

the testing phase of the regulatory 

review period, while 983 days occurred 

during the approval phase. These 

periods of time were derived from the 

following dates: 

1. The date an exemption under 

section 520(g) of the Federal Food, Drug, 

and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 

360j(g)) involving this device became 

effective: July 28, 2006. FDA has 

verified the applicant’s claim that the 

date the investigational device 

exemption for human tests to begin, as 

required under section 520(g) of the 

FD&C Act, became effective July 28, 

2006. 

2. The date an application was 

initially submitted with respect to the 

device under section 515 of the FD&C 

Act (21 U.S.C. 360e): December 26, 

2018. FDA has verified the applicant’s 

claim that the premarket approval 

application (PMA) for the OCS HEART 

SYSTEM (PMA P180051) was initially 

submitted December 26, 2018. 

3. The date the application was 

approved: September 3, 2021. FDA has 

verified the applicant’s claim that PMA 

P180051 was approved on September 3, 

2021. 

This determination of the regulatory 

review period establishes the maximum 

potential length of a patent extension. 

However, the USPTO applies several 

statutory limitations in its calculations 

of the actual period for patent extension. 

In its application for patent extension, 

this applicant seeks 1,826 days of patent 

term extension. 

III. Petitions 

Anyone with knowledge that any of 

the dates as published are incorrect may 

submit either electronic or written 

comments and, under 21 CFR 60.24, ask 

for a redetermination (see DATES). 

Furthermore, as specified in § 60.30 (21 

CFR 60.30), any interested person may 

petition FDA 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 

comply with all the requirements of 

§ 60.30, including but not limited to: 

must be timely (see DATES), must be 

filed in accordance with § 10.20, must 

contain sufficient facts to merit an FDA 

investigation, and must certify that a 

true and complete copy of the petition 

has been served upon the patent 

applicant. (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. 

Submit petitions electronically to 

https://www.regulations.gov at Docket 

No. FDA–2013–S–0610. Submit written 

petitions (two copies are required) to the 

Dockets Management Staff (HFA–305), 

Food and Drug Administration, 5630 

Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 

20852. 

Dated: February 9, 2024. 

Lauren K. Roth, 

Associate Commissioner for Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2024–03028 Filed 2–13–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4164–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Food and Drug Administration 

[Docket No. FDA–2014–N–0179] 

Training Program for Regulatory 

Project Managers; Information 

Available to Industry 

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, 

HHS. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Food and Drug 

Administration’s (FDA or the Agency) 

Center for Drug Evaluation and Research 

(CDER) is announcing the continuation 

of the Regulatory Project Management 

Site Tours and Regulatory Interaction 

Program (the Site Tours Program). The 

purpose of this document is to invite 

pharmaceutical companies interested in 

participating in this program to contact 

CDER. 

DATES: Pharmaceutical companies may 

send proposed agendas to the Agency by 

April 15, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dan 

Brum, Center for Drug Evaluation and 

Research, Food and Drug 

Administration, 10903 New Hampshire 

Ave., Bldg. 22, Rm. 5480, Silver Spring, 

MD 20993–0002, 301–796–0578, 

Dan.Brum@fda.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

An important part of CDER’s 

commitment to make safe and effective 

drugs available to all Americans is 

optimizing the efficiency and quality of 

the drug review process. To support this 

goal, CDER has initiated various training 

and development programs to promote 

high performance in its regulatory 

project management staff. CDER seeks to 

enhance review efficiency and review 

quality by providing the staff with a 

better understanding of the 

pharmaceutical industry and its 

operations. To this end, CDER is 

continuing its training program to give 

regulatory project managers the 

opportunity to tour pharmaceutical 

facilities. The goals are to provide the 

following: (1) firsthand exposure to 

industry’s drug development processes 

and (2) a venue for sharing information 

about project management procedures 

(but not drug-specific information) with 

industry representatives. 

II. The Site Tours Program 

In this program, which generally lasts 

a few days, small groups of CDER 

regulatory project managers, often 

including a senior level regulatory 

project manager, can observe operations 

of pharmaceutical manufacturing and/or 

packaging facilities, pathology/ 

toxicology laboratories, and regulatory 

affairs operations. Neither this tour nor 

any part of the program is intended as 

a mechanism to inspect, assess, judge, 

or perform a regulatory function, but is 

meant rather to improve mutual 

understanding and to provide an avenue 

for open dialogue. During the Site Tours 

Program, regulatory project managers 

will also participate in daily workshops 

with their industry counterparts, 

focusing on selective regulatory issues 

important to both CDER staff and 

industry. The primary objective of the 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1