U.S. Food and Drug Administration • Center for Drug Evaluation
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U.S. Food and Drug Administration • Center for Drug Evaluation
and Research |
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Guidance Document |
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Guidance for Industry
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This guidance represents the Food and Drug Administration's current thinking on this topic. It does not create or confer any rights for or on any person and does not operate to bind FDA or the public. An alternative approach may be used if such approach satisfies the requirements of the applicable statutes and regulations. |
This is one of a series of guidance documents intended to assist applicants making regulatory submissions in electronic format to the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) and to the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). In some cases, guidance differs from CDER to CBER because of differences in the procedures and computer infrastructure in the Centers. The Agency will work to minimize these differences wherever possible.
This guidance discusses issues related to the electronic submission of abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) and supplements and amendments to those applications. This guidance should be used in conjunction with the guidance for industry on Providing Regulatory Submissions in Electronic Format - General Considerations (General Considerations guidance) (January 1999) and a guidance for industry on new drug applications (NDAs), Providing Regulatory Submissions in Electronic Format - NDAs (the NDA guidance) (January 1999). The General Considerations guidance addresses issues such as appropriate file formats, media, and submission procedures that are common to all submission types. The NDA guidance provides specific recommendations on the individual items on FDA Form 356h (Application to Market a New Drug, Biologic, or an Antibiotic Drug for Human Use). For a list of guidances that are under development on electronic submissions, see the General Considerations guidance.
Center policy is to encourage the submission and review of electronic ANDAs as described in this guidance. In January 1997, the Office of Generic Drugs (OGD) initiated a pilot program allowing some types of data and certain text information in electronic format to be submitted with the paper archive submission. The guidance on that program (Preparing Data for Electronic Submission in ANDAs (September 1999)) is superseded by this guidance. We are currently working to harmonize data across the Centers and will include additional recommendations on data submission in future versions of the NDA guidance. These recommendations will draw upon OGD's pilot program.
Regulations in 21 CFR 314.94 provide general requirements for submitting ANDAs to CDER. Currently, FDA Form 356h outlines the components required in the submission of an abbreviated new drug application. This form is available on the Internet at (http://aosweb.psc.dhhs.gov/forms/fdaforms.htm). This section addresses some general considerations on the electronic submission of ANDAs.
A. Consistency With New Drug Application (NDA) Guidance
We have tried to make this guidance consistent with the NDA guidance wherever possible. This includes general issues about refusal to receive or file an application, providing the field copy, electronic signatures, and review aids, if submitted electronically.
Once we have identified in public docket number 92-S-0251 that we can accept ANDAs in an electronic format, you have the option of providing the archival copy of the submission in electronic format as detailed in this guidance. If you decide to provide an ANDA in electronic format, you should provide the entire submission in electronic format. In addition, all subsequent supplements and amendments should be in electronic format. This will reduce confusion and improve review efficiency.
You are required to submit a review copy of an ANDA in addition to the archival copy (21 CFR 314.94(d)(2)). If you provide the archival copy in electronic format, you do not need to provide a separate review copy. For the copy of the analytical methods and descriptive information needed by FDA's laboratories to perform tests on samples of the proposed drug product and to validate the analytical methods (see 21 CFR 314.50(e)), if you provide the archival copy in electronic format, you should also provide the analytical methods information copy in electronic format. However, you do not need to provide additional copies of the analytical methods package.
The recommendations in this guidance apply equally to the original submission, supplements, and amendments to ANDAs.
1. Page Numbering
You should only include page numbers within individual documents; pagination across all PDF documents is not necessary.
2. Indexing PDF Documents
You need not create full text indexes for ANDA electronic submissions.
3. Sending in the Electronic Submission to Be Archived
You should send the ANDA electronic regulatory submission to be archived to the CDER OGD Document Room (OGDDR):
OFFICE OF GENERIC DRUGS
Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
Food and Drug Administration
MPN2, HFD-600
7500 Standish Place, Room 150
Rockville, MD 20855
CDER uses this submission to make other copies as needed. We duplicate the electronic files on tape to create an archival copy and load the files onto a network server to create a read-only copy for the reviewer.
4. The Type of Media That Should Be Used
Refer to the General Considerations guidance for information on media.
5. Preparing the Media
Refer to the General Considerations guidance for general information on preparing the media.
The first binder with electronic media should include only a paper copy of the cover letter for the submission, a paper copy of FDA Form 356h, and the electronic media for archiving. On page 1 of FDA Form 356h, note that the application is in "ELECTRONIC" format.
Please attach labels to the media, and if using CDs, also attach labels to the CD jewel cases. The media should be labeled with the following:
ANDA ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION
ANDA Number (if available)
Company name
Drug Product Name and Strength(s)
Submission type (original, amendment, supplement)
Submission date
Disk/CD-ROM (the total number submitted such as Disk # of #)
Point of Contact (name and telephone number of person with
knowledge of the electronic submission)
F. Questions on ANDA Electronic Submissions
You can direct questions regarding the preparation of submissions in electronic format for ANDAs to the Electronic Submissions Technical Support ESUB@CDER.FDA.GOV.
III. ORGANIZING THE MAIN FOLDER
All documents and data files for the electronic archival copy should be placed in a main folder using ANDA as the folder name.
Inside the main folder, there should be six folders: labeling, cmc, hpbio, crt, crf, and other. The documents and data files should be organized by the ANDA items described on page 2 of FDA Form 356h. Each item has an assigned subfolder where documents and data files that belong to the item should be placed. See Table 1 below for the items and folder organization.
Table 1. Items of an ANDA as Described on FDA Form 356h
Item |
Description |
Folder name |
Cover letter |
ANDA | |
Regulatory basis of submission |
ANDA | |
2 |
Labeling |
labeling |
4 |
Chemistry |
cmc |
6 |
Human pharmacokinetics (Bioequivalence) |
hpbio |
11 |
Case report tabulations |
crt |
12 |
Case report forms |
crf |
14 |
Patent certification |
other |
16 |
Debarment certification |
other |
17 |
Field copy certification |
other |
19 |
Financial information |
other |
20 |
Other |
other |
You should provide the cover letter as described in the NDA guidance.
C. Basis for the ANDA submission
You must provide information for the comparison of the generic drug and the reference listed drug (section 505(j)(2)(A) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; 21 CFR 314.94(a)(3)), conditions for use (21 CFR 314.94(a)(4)), active ingredients (21 CFR 314.94(a)(5)), and route of administration (21 CFR 314.94(a)(6)). You should provide this information in a single PDF file named regbasis.pdf and place it in the ANDA folder. This document should have a table of contents listing each one of the required items listed above. As part of the comprehensive table of contents, you should provide bookmarks to each item listed in the table of contents.
You should provide the FDA Form 356h as described in the NDA guidance.
E. ANDA Table Of Contents (Index)
Inside the main ANDA folder, you should provide a table of contents for the submission named andatoc.pdf. See item 1 below for additional information.
IV. ORGANIZING THE ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION
The submission should contain the documents and data files for the appropriate items listed on FDA Form 356h. The guidance for providing each item in electronic format follows.
You should provide the table of contents for the ANDA as described in the NDA guidance. Name the table of contents andatoc.pdf.
You need not include items 5 (Nonclinical pharmacology and toxicology), 7 (Clinical Microbiology), 8 (Clinical data), 9 (Safety update report), 10 (Statistical section), 13 (Patent information), 15 (Establishment description), or 18 (User Fee Cover Sheet), because this information is not part of an ANDA. An example of the table of contents for ANDA 012345 is in Table 2.
|
Description |
Electronic Archive Copy Folder Name |
Table of contents |
ANDA |
Labeling |
labeling |
Chemistry |
cmc |
Bioequivalence |
hpbio |
Case report tabulations |
crt |
Case report forms |
crf |
Patent certification |
other |
Debarment certification |
other |
Field copy certification |
other |
Financial disclosure |
other |
List other files here |
other |
Labeling is item 2 on page 2 of FDA Form 356h. You should provide the labeling as described in the NDA guidance.
In addition to the files described in the NDA guidance, you must provide a statement that your proposed labeling is the same as the labeling of the reference listed drug except for differences explained in the annotated comparison of labeling (21 CFR 314.94(a)(8)(iii)). You should provide this statement in a PDF file named compare.pdf and place it in the labeling folder.
You must also provide a copy of the approved labeling text for the listed drug referred to in the ANDA, if it relies on a reference listed drug (314.94(a)(8)(i)). You should name the file listed.pdf and place it in the labeling folder.
C. Item 4: Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC)
The chemistry, manufacturing, and controls section is item 4 on page 2 of FDA Form 356h. You should provide the information as described in the NDA guidance.
D. Item 6: Human Pharmacokinetics and Bioavailability
The bioequivalence study reports including the assay validation studies and in vivo in vitro dissolution studies, are included under item 6 on page 2 of FDA Form 356h. You should provide the information as described in the NDA guidance.
If you provide a waiver for in vivo studies, provide it as a single PDF file called waiver.pdf and place it in the hpbio folder. This file should contain all information required to support a waiver.
You should provide any other items pertinent to the bioequivalence submission as separate PDF files and place them in the hpbio folder. There should be a hypertext link from the hpbio table of contents directly to these files.
E. Item 11: Case Report Tabulations (CRTs)
CRTs are item 11 on page 2 of FDA Form 356h.
You should provide the data from the various studies in a series of datasets. You should follow the NDA guidance on the format and documentation of the datasets. The NDA guidance also describes how to provide a table of contents for the datasets. Place them in the crt folder for processing efficiency.
F. Item 12: Case Report Forms (CRFs)
CRFs are item 12 on page 2 in FDA Form 356h.
You should follow the guidance provided in the NDA guidance for submitting case report forms.
You should follow the guidance provided in the NDA guidance for submitting the debarment certification (item 16), field copy certification (item 17), and financial disclosure information (item 19).
Provide the information pertaining to the patent certification (21 CFR 314.94(a)(12)) and exclusivity (21 CFR 314.94(a)(3)) in a single PDF file named patcert.pdf and place it in the other folder.
Provide any other items pertinent to the submission as separate PDF files and place them in the other folder. There should be a hypertext link from the submission table of contents directly to these files.
The Agency is developing procedures for the submission of electronic signatures. Until those procedures are in place, a signed paper certification or declaration must be accompany the electronic submission wherever a handwritten signature is currently required (314.94(a)(1)).
1 This guidance has been prepared by the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the Food and Drug Administration.
On June 1, 1998, the President instructed all Federal agencies to ensure the use of plain language in new documents. This guidance reflects Agency efforts to comply with the plain language initiative.
FDA/Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
Last Updated: July 27, 2002
Originator: CDER
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