Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Antimicrobial Animal Drug Distribution Reports and Recordkeeping

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, Agency, or we) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the Agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Federal Agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on the information collection provisions of our reporting and recordkeeping requirements for antimicrobial animal drug sales and distribution.

DATES:

Submit either electronic or written comments on the collection of information by January 10, 2022.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments as follows. Please note that late, untimely filed comments will not be considered. Electronic comments must be submitted on or before January 10, 2022. The https://www.regulations.gov electronic filing system will accept comments until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time at the end of January 10, 2022. Comments received by mail/hand delivery/courier (for written/paper submissions) will be considered timely if they are postmarked or the delivery service acceptance receipt is 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-2018-N-3353 for “Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Antimicrobial Animal Drug Distribution Reports and Recordkeeping.” 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 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:

Ila S. Mizrachi, Office of Operations, Food and Drug Administration, Three White Flint North, 10A-12M, 11601 Landsdown St., North Bethesda, MD 20852, 301-796-7726, PRAStaff@fda.hhs.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521), Federal Agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. “Collection of information” is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) and includes Agency requests or requirements that members of the public submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a third party. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)) requires Federal Agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, FDA is publishing notice of the proposed collection of information set forth in this document.

With respect to the following collection of information, FDA invites comments on these topics: (1) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of FDA's functions, including whether the information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of FDA's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques, when appropriate, and other forms of information technology.

Antimicrobial Animal Drug Distribution Reports and Recordkeeping—21 CFR 514.87

OMB Control Number 0910-0659—Extension

Sponsors of approved or conditionally approved applications for new animal drugs containing an antimicrobial active ingredient are required by section 512 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 360b) to submit to FDA an annual report on the amount of each such ingredient in the drug that is sold or distributed for use in food-producing animals. Sponsors are also required to maintain distribution records for their animal drug products, including separate information for each month of the calendar year, under section 512( l )(3) of the FD&C Act. These provisions were enacted to assist FDA in our continuing analysis of the interactions (including drug resistance), efficacy, and safety of antimicrobials approved for use in both humans and food-producing animals for the purpose of mitigating the public health risk associated with antimicrobial resistance.

Section 514.87 of our regulations (21 CFR 514.87) codifies the reporting requirements established in the FD&C Act. Sponsors submit antimicrobial animal drug sales and distribution reports to us on Form FDA 3744. Each report must specify: (1) The amount of each antimicrobial active ingredient by container size, strength, and dosage form; (2) quantities distributed domestically and quantities exported; and (3) a listing of the target animals, indications, and production classes that are specified on the approved label of the product. The report must cover the period of the preceding calendar year and include separate information for each month of the calendar year. Each report must also provide a species-specific estimate of the percentage of each product that was sold or distributed domestically in the reporting year for use in cattle, swine, chickens, or turkeys for such species that appear on the approved label.

FDA estimates the burden of this collection of information as follows:

We base our estimate of the average burden per response on our recent experience with the existing antimicrobial animal drug distribution reports program. We base our estimate of the number of affected respondents reported in tables 1 and 2 and the average number of responses per respondent in table 1 on a review of our records of sponsors with active and inactive applications. We estimate that 20 sponsors will have active applications, and we assume that 75 percent of the respondents will report electronically, while the other 25 percent will report on paper. We estimate that 4 sponsors with active applications will spend 62 hours annually to assemble the necessary information, prepare, and submit an annual antimicrobial animal drug sales and distribution report on paper and 16 sponsors with active applications will spend 52 hours annually to assemble the necessary information, prepare, and electronically submit an annual antimicrobial animal drug sales and distribution report. We estimate that 21 sponsors will have inactive applications, and we assume that 93 percent of these respondents will report electronically, while the other 7 percent will report on paper. We estimate that sponsors with inactive applications will spend 2 hours to prepare their annual antimicrobial animal drug sales and distribution reports, whether electronically or on paper.

Animal drug manufacturers are already required to maintain distribution records for their animal drug products to comply with FDA's current good manufacturing regulations for periodic drug reports under § 514.80(b)(4)(i) (21 CFR 514.80(b)(4)(i)), approved under OMB control number 0910-0284. Section 512( l )(3) of the FD&C Act differs from § 514.80(b)(4)(i) in that it requires that records include separate information for each month of the calendar year. In addition, under 21 CFR 211.196 (approved under OMB control number 0910-0139), manufacturers currently are required to maintain distribution records that include dosage form, and date drug is distributed. Based on these requirements, FDA believes that manufacturers already keep detailed records of the dates when antimicrobial drugs are distributed for marketing and recall purposes from which monthly reports can be prepared as part of usual and customary business practices. However, FDA estimates an additional recordkeeping burden of 42 hours for further compliance with section 512( l )(3) of the FD&C Act, as detailed in table 2.

We have adjusted our burden estimate, which has resulted in a decrease to the currently approved burden. We attribute this to respondents who reported by paper in previous years and are now reporting electronically. We also note a decrease in recordkeeping respondents. We attribute this to the mergers of sponsors over the years.