[Federal Register: August 7, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 152)]
[Notices]
[Page 42408]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr07au98-122]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. 97E-0461]
Determination of Regulatory Review Period for Purposes of Patent
Extension; Cook GRIITM Coronary Stent
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 Cook GRIITM Coronary Stent 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 medical device.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and petitions should be directed to the
Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 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 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 Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks may award
(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 recently approved for marketing the medical device Cook
GRIITM Coronary Stent. Cook GRIITM Coronary Stent
is indicated for treatment of acute or threatened closure in patients
with failed interventional therapy in vessels with reference diameters
in the range of 2.1 mm to 4.0 mm. Subsequent to this approval, the
Patent and Trademark Office received a patent term restoration
application for Cook GRIITM Coronary Stent (U.S. Patent No.
5,041,126) from Cook, Inc., and the Patent and Trademark Office
requested FDA's assistance in determining this patent's eligibility for
patent term restoration. In a letter dated December 29, 1997, FDA
advised the Patent and Trademark Office that this medical device had
undergone a regulatory review period and that the approval of Cook
GRIITM Coronary Stent 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
Cook GRIITM Coronary Stent is 511 days. Of this time, 343
days occurred during the testing phase of the regulatory review period,
while 168 days occurred during the approval phase. These periods of
time were derived from the following dates:
1. The date a clinical investigation involving this device was
begun: December 20, 1995. FDA has verified the applicant's claim that
the date the investigational device exemption (IDE) required under
section 520(g) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the act)
(21 U.S.C. 360j(g)) for human tests to begin became effective December
20, 1995.
2. The date the application was initially submitted with respect to
the device under section 515 of the act (21 U.S.C. 360e): November 26,
1996. The applicant claims November 23, 1996, as the date the Premarket
Approval Application (PMA) for Cook GRIITM Coronary Stent
(PMA 910030) was initially submitted. However, FDA records indicate
that PMA 910030 was submitted on November 26, 1996.
3. The date the application was approved: May 12, 1997. FDA has
verified the applicant's claim that PMA 910030 was approved on May 12,
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 341 days of
patent term extension.
Anyone with knowledge that any of the dates as published is
incorrect may, on or before October 6, 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 February 3, 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: July 8, 1998.
Thomas J. McGinnis,
Deputy Associate Commissioner for Health Affairs.
[FR Doc. 98-21089 Filed 8-6-98; 8:45 am]
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