Citizen Petitions and Petitions for Stay of Action Subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; Guidance for Industry; Availability

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice of availability.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of a final guidance for industry entitled “Citizen Petitions and Petitions for Stay of Action Subject to Section 505(q) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” Among other things, this guidance provides FDA's current thinking on what constitutes a 505(q) petition and describes some of the considerations that FDA will take into account in determining whether a petition is submitted with the primary purpose of delaying the approval of an application. This guidance finalizes the draft guidance for industry entitled “Citizen Petitions and Petitions for Stay of Action Subject to Section 505(q) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act” issued in October 2018.

DATES:

The announcement of the guidance is published in the Federal Register on September 19, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit either electronic or written comments on Agency guidances at any time as follows:

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-2009-D-0008 for “Citizen Petitions and Petitions for Stay of Action Subject to Section 505(q) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” Received comments 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.

• 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.gpo.gov/fdsys/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.

You may submit comments on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR 10.115(g)(5)).

Submit written requests for single copies of this guidance to the Division of Drug Information, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10001 New Hampshire Ave., Hillandale Building, 4th Floor, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002. Send one self-addressed adhesive label to assist that office in processing your requests. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for electronic access to the guidance document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kim Thomas, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 51, Rm. 6282, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-3601.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

FDA is announcing the availability of a guidance for industry entitled “Citizen Petitions and Petitions for Stay of Action Subject to Section 505(q) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” This guidance provides information regarding FDA's current thinking on interpreting section 505(q) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 355(q)). Section 505(q) of the FD&C Act governs certain citizen petitions and petitions for stay of Agency action that request that FDA take any form of action related to a pending application submitted under (1) section 505(b)(2) of the FD&C Act (referred to in this document as a 505(b)(2) application), (2) section 505(j) of the FD&C Act (referred to in this document as an abbreviated new drug application (ANDA)), or (3) section 351(k) of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) (42 U.S.C. 262(k)) (referred to in this document as a 351(k) application).

This guidance describes FDA's interpretation of section 505(q) of the FD&C Act regarding how the Agency determines (1) if the provisions of section 505(q) addressing the treatment of citizen petitions and petitions for stay of Agency action (collectively, petitions) apply to a particular petition and (2) if a petition would delay approval of a pending ANDA, 505(b)(2) application, or 351(k) application. This guidance also describes how FDA interprets the provisions of section 505(q) requiring that (1) a petition include a certification and (2) supplemental information or comments on a petition include a verification. It also addresses the relationship between the review of petitions and pending ANDAs, 505(b)(2) applications, and 351(k) applications for which the Agency has not yet made a decision on approvability. In addition, this guidance describes some of the considerations that FDA will take into account in determining whether a petition is submitted with the primary purpose of delaying the approval of an application under section 505(q)(1)(E) of the FD&C Act.

This guidance supersedes the guidance for industry entitled “Citizen Petitions and Petitions for Stay of Action Subject to Section 505(q) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act,” issued in November 2014, and finalizes the draft guidance announced in the Federal Register of October 3, 2018 (83 FR 49935). In that Federal Register notice, FDA gave interested parties an opportunity to submit comments by December 3, 2018, to ensure that FDA considers the comments before beginning work on the final version of the guidance. FDA received a number of comments on the draft guidance. FDA has considered the comments and made clarifying revisions to the draft guidance.

This guidance is being issued consistent with FDA's good guidance practices regulation (21 CFR 10.115). The guidance represents the current thinking of FDA on “Citizen Petitions and Petitions for Stay of Action Subject to Section 505(q) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” It does not establish any rights for any person and is not binding on FDA or the public. You can use an alternative approach if it satisfies the requirements of the applicable statutes and regulations. This guidance is not subject to Executive Order 12866.

II. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

This guidance refers to previously approved collections of information found in FDA regulations. These collections of information are subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520). The collections of information in 21 CFR 10.20, 10.30, and 10.35 have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0191; the collections of information in 21 CFR 10.31 have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0679; and the collections of information in 21 CFR 314.54, 314.94, and 314.102 have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0001.

III. Electronic Access

Persons with access to the internet may obtain the guidance at either https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/default.htm or https://www.regulations.gov.