Facility Readiness: Goal Date Decisions Under Generic Drug User Fee Amendments; 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 “Facility Readiness: Goal Date Decisions Under GDUFA.” This guidance provides information to applicants on how FDA will use information related to a facility's readiness for inspection as certified on Form FDA 356h to set a goal date for an original abbreviated new drug application (ANDA). This guidance incorporates a program enhancement agreed upon by the Agency and industry as part of the negotiations relating to reauthorization of the Generic Drug User Fee Amendments (GDUFA) and as described in “GDUFA Reauthorization Performance Goals and Program Enhancements Fiscal Years 2023-2027” (GDUFA III commitment letter). This guidance finalizes the draft guidance of the same title issued on October 7, 2022.

DATES:

The announcement of the guidance is published in the Federal Register on June 18, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments on any guidance 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-2022-D-1981 for “Facility Readiness: Goal Date Decisions Under GDUFA.” 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, 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.

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:

Karen Takahashi, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 75, Rm, 6686, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-796-3191.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

FDA is announcing the availability of a guidance for industry entitled “Facility Readiness: Goal Date Decisions Under GDUFA.” This guidance provides information to applicants on how FDA intends to assign a goal date based on a facility's readiness for inspection as certified on Form FDA 356h submitted as part of an original ANDA under section 505(j) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355(j)). This guidance explains how FDA incorporates a performance enhancement in the GDUFA III commitment letter as part of its goal date assignments.

Under the commitment letter related to the GDUFA authorization for fiscal years 2018 through 2022 (under the Generic Drug User Fee Amendments of 2017), a goal date was assigned without regard to facility readiness for inspection. In contrast, under the GDUFA III commitment letter, FDA agreed to assign a longer goal date if a facility is not ready for an inspection at the time of application submission. An application containing a facility not ready for inspection is more likely to require more than one assessment cycle, extending the time required for possible approval and potentially delaying patient access to quality generic drugs. This change in goal date assignment will help FDA to focus resources on applications with facilities ready for inspection.

This guidance finalizes the draft guidance of the same title issued on October 7, 2022 (87 FR 61039). No public comments were received on the draft guidance. Only minor editorial changes were made.

This guidance is being issued consistent with FDA's good guidance practices regulation (21 CFR 10.115). This guidance represents the current thinking of FDA on “Facility Readiness: Goal Date Decisions Under GDUFA.” 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.

II. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

While this guidance contains no collection of information, it does refer to previously approved FDA collections of information. The previously approved collections of information are subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521). The collections of information in 21 CFR part 314 for ANDAs have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0001. The collections of information in Form FDA 356h have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0338. The collections of information in 21 CFR part 11 for electronic records and electronic signatures have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0303. The collections of information in 21 CFR parts 210 and 211 pertaining to current good manufacturing practice have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0139. The collections of information pertaining to the GDUFA III commitment letter have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0727.

III. Electronic Access

Persons with access to the internet may obtain the guidance at https://www.fda.gov/drugs/guidance-compliance-regulatory-information/guidances-drugs, https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents, or https://www.regulations.gov.