Tag: Drug Establishment Registration

OVER-THE-COUNTER MONOGRAPH DRUG USER FEE PROGRAM (OMUFA)

As per CARES Act, over-the counter (OTC) drugs otherwise known as OTC monograph drugs, can be marketed without an approved drug application if they meet the other applicable requirements. Under this OTC monograph reform legislation, FDA is entitled to assess and collect user fees dedicated to OTC monograph drug activities.

FDA states that OMUFA fee will fund a portion of their regulatory activities for OTC monograph drugs and its performance goals, which includes reviewing of new submissions within specific time frames and inspections.

On March 16th, 2022, FDA announced the OMUFA for FY 2022.

As per FD&C Act, a facility fee for FY 2022 will be calculated based on the facility that is identified as an OTC monograph drug facility during the fee-liable period from January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021.

FDA will calculate and collect facility fees with respect to the two types of OTC monograph drug facilities—MDF and CMO facilities. Facility fees will be calculated to each qualifying person that owns a facility identified as an MDF and a reduced facility fee (two- thirds) will be assessed to each qualifying person that owns a facility identified as a CMO facility. FY 2022 facility fees are due on June 1, 2022.

OTC monograph drug facility (MDF) is a foreign or domestic establishment that is engaged in manufacturing or processing the finished dosage form of an OTC monograph drug.

A contract manufacturing organization (CMO) facility is an OTC monograph drug facility where neither the owner nor any affiliated partner or the establishment sells the OTC monograph drug produced at such facility directly to wholesalers, retailers, or consumers in the United States.

FDA Fees for OTC Monograph Drug Facility Registration for Fiscal Year 2022

Type of Registration / Application MDF Facility CMO Facility
OTC Monograph Drug Facility Fee $24,178 $16,119

FDA also stated that manufacturers that entered the over-the-counter industry to Supply Hand Sanitizers during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency are not subject to the Over-the-Counter Drug Monograph Facility Fee (OMUFA) fee.

Below are the facilities exempted from OMUFA.

  1. API Manufacturers.
  2. Clinical Research Supply manufacturers
  3. Testing establishment.
  4. Facilities placing outer packaging on already packaged products containing various products like creating multiple packaging.
  5. Animal drug manufacturers.
  6. Homeopathic drug manufacturers

Liberty Management Group Ltd, a leading FDA consulting group provides assistance with OMUFA PIN creation, API drug establishment registration, Drug establishment registration and listing renewals and US agent service to foreign countries.Homeopathic drug manufacturers

Sudha S

Regulatory Consultant

Mail: Office@libertymanagment.us

https://www.fdahelp.us/

WHAT DOES FDA REGULATES

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in charge for protecting public health by assuring the safety and efficacy of human and animal drugs and biologics, medical devices, tobacco products, human food and animal food for consumption, cosmetics, and electronic products that emit radiation. It also provides precise science based health information to the public.

FDA regulates the following which is a list of traditionally-recognized products that comes under FDA’s regulatory authority.

Foods, which includes

  • Dietary Supplements
  • Bottled water
  • Vegetable and fruit products
  • Food additives
  • Infant formulas
  • Other food products (some of the food products are regulated by USDA such as meat, poultry and egg products).

Drugs, which includes

  • Over the counter (OTC) drugs
  • Prescription drugs( Brand name and generic)

Medical devices, which includes

  • Simple items from bed board and cane
  • Dental devices
  • Surgical devices, implants and prosthetics
  • Complex medical devices such as intraocular lens and pacemakers.

Vaccines, Blood & Biologics, which includes

  • Allergenics
  • Blood and Blood products
  • Tissue and it products
  • cellular and gene therapy products

Radiation emitting products, which includes

  • Laser products
  • X-ray equipment
  • Ultrasonic therapy equipment
  • Mercury Vapor lamps
  • Sunlamps

Cosmetics, which includes

  • skin moisturizers and cleansers
  • Color additives found in makeup and personal care products
  • Nail polish and perfumes

Animal & Veterinary, which includes

  • Pet foods
  • Livestock feeds
  • Animal drugs and devices

Tobacco Products, which includes

  • Cigarattes
  • cigarette tobacco
  • roll-your-own tobacco
  • smokeless tobacco

Alcohol products are regulated by The Department of the Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) which monitors the production, importation, wholesale distribution, labeling and advertising.

Consumer Product Safety Commission(CPSC) ensure the safety of consumer goods such as children toys, power tools, cigarette lighters, household chemical products and products that cause a  fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard.

Meats, Poultry and certain egg products are regulated by US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates many traits of pesticides which determines the amount of pesticide used during cultivation, processing and how much can remain on the food we buy. EPA also regulates drinking water, which develops the national standards of drinking water from municipal tap water to limit the level of impurities.

Liberty Management Group, a leading FDA consulting firm provides assistance with registration of food, drug, medical devices and cosmetic companies and also provides assistance with US agent service to foreign companies.

Sudha S

Regulatory Consultant

Mail: office@libertymanagement.us

www.fdahelp.us

SELF IDENTIFICATION – AN OVERVIEW

The Generic Drug User Fee Amendments of 2012 (GDUFA) requires that the manufacturers of human generic drugs, active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturers (API) and the organizations which support the manufacture or approval of generic drugs to identify themselves electronically  and update the  information annually to FDA.

Self-identification is a vital requirement to help global supply chain transparency and provide assistance in building an accurate inventory of facilities and organizations involved in the manufacture of generic drugs and also simplifies inspections and compliance.

Who requires Self-Identification?

  1. Facilities that manufacture human generic drug APIs or Finished dosage form of drugs (FDF) or both.
  2. Packager and labeler of generic drugs.
  3. Facilities identified in generic drug submission where the applicant remove the drug from a primary container and subdivide in to different primary containers.
  4. Labs that are performing Bioequivalence (BE)/bioavailability (BA) tests.
  5. Facilities identified in a generic drug submission where the testing is performed to check the characteristics of the FDF or the API pursuant to a contract with the applicant to satisfy a cGMP testing requirement

Who requires to pay the fees?

  1. Facilities manufacturing, or intending to manufacture, API of human generic drugs and/or finished dosage form (FDF) human generic drugs.
  2. Facilities that engage in generic drug packaging and labeling (FDA consider these as manufacturing facilities)

Who does not require to pay the fees?

  1. Firms that engages in testing, repackaging or relabeling are not required to pay the fees.

Penalty for not submitting Self– Identification

  1. Under GDUFA, all FDF or API products manufactured at the facility will be considered as misbranded. 
  2. Products manufactured in foreign facilities are considered misbranded and it is a violation of federal law to market misbranded products in interstate commerce or to import the products into the United States.

Drug manufacturers’ needs to submit their Self – Identification information to FDA through Electronic Submission Gateway (ESG) by creating Structured Product Labeling (SPL) files.

For FY 2019, the Self-Identification period starts from May 1st 2019 to June 1st 2019.

Liberty Management Group, a leading FDA consulting firm provides assistance with SPL preparation and submission of Self-Identification to FDA.

Sudhs S

Regulatory Consultant

Mail: office@libertymanagement.us

http://www.fdahelp.us

BASICS OF IMPORTATION – DRUGS

FDA regulates a range of products which includes food (human and animal consumption), medical products (drugs, devices and biological products), radiation-emitting electronic products, tobacco products and cosmetics. All imported shipments of FDA regulated products are evaluated by FDA and needs to comply with same regulations as of domestic products.  The products that are offered into U.S including personal items must be declared to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). CBP will refers all FDA –regulated products to FDA for review. Mostly, importers will hire a custom broker to help them in submitting necessary entry documents and applicable payments to CBP on behalf of the importer.  FDA regulated products are refused to enter in US commerce, if they appear to be adulterated, misbranded, or restricted for Sale.   Refused products needs to be destroyed or exported from U.S within 90 days.

DRUGS IMPORTATION

FDA will verify compliance with the following requirements at the time of importation.

  1. FDA Drug Establishment Registration
  2. Drug Listing
  3. NDA or ANDA approval (If applicable)
  4. Conducts field examination and analyzes samples of drugs products to make sure they comply with standard and label requirements.
  5. FDA will make sure that the manufacturer is in not is the list of foreign manufacturers who are not in compliance with drug GMP or import alert.

FDA will verify the manufacturer’s registration and listing by comparing the submitted information to CDER’s registration and listing databases.  If the information does not match, FDA will ask for additional information or may detain the product. If the product requires a NDA, ANDA or IND and if does not have it, then FDA will subject the product to refusal.

Foreign establishments whose drugs are imported into United States are required to register with FDA and submit their drug listing information of their products intended for marketing in U.S. If the manufacturer has not registered, they need to register with FDA within 5 days after submitting their application. Also all foreign manufacturers are required to identify a U.S. Agent. FDA Drug establishment Registration and drug listing must be submitted to FDA electronically via CDER unless waiver is granted.

Drug products imported into the United States are subject to FDA labeling requirements.  FDA will review the drug labels at the time of importation to check whether they are in compliance with FDA regulations. Specific drug labeling requirements are determined by the type of drug product. OTC drugs, prescription drugs, and drugs imported for drug effectiveness studies are subject to specific labeling requirements in addition to the general drug label requirements.

Liberty Management Group , a leading FDA consulting group in the United States provides assistance with drug establishment registration, drug listing and label review and US agent service for foreign drug establishment firms.

Sudha S

Regulatory Consultant

Mail: office@libertymanagement.us

www.fdahelp.us

NATIONAL DRUG CODE (NDC) – AN OVERVIEW

According to the Drug listing act of 1972, all registered drug establishments must provide the current list of all drugs manufactured, processed, prepared, propagated, compounded or processed for commercial distribution in their facility to FDA. These drugs products are identified and reported by using a unique three segment number called National Drug Code (NDC), which serves as universal product identifier for human drugs.

NDC number is a unique 10-digit, 3–segment numeric identifier assigned to each drug listed under Section 510 of FD&C act. Each NDC number identifies the labeler, product and the trade package size of the drug.

  • The first segment of NDC is known as labeler code, which is a unique 5 digit number assigned by FDA to each establishment that manufactures (including contract manufacturers, re-packers or re-labelers) or distributes (under its own name- Private label distributor).
  • Second segment, which is the product code, identifies the specifications (strength, dosage form and formulation) of a drug for a particular manufacturer.  This denotes that different formulations or different strengths of the same formulation should be assigned different product codes.
  • The third segment, the package code, classifies package sizes and types. The second and third segments of NDC should be assigned by the labeler. The NDC will be in one of the following configurations: 4-4-2, 5-3-2, or 5-4-1.

NDC Labeler code request to FDA should be submitted in SPL (structured Product Labeling) format via FDA ESG (electronic submission gateway). Labeler is responsible for each NDC directory entry submitted through SPL files.  Entry in NDC directory doesn’t indicate that FDA approved or verified the information of the drug. Assignment of NDC number to non-drug products is strictly prohibited. Under FD&C act, registration of a drug establishment or assignment of NDC number does not denote that FDA’s approval of the company or its products.

Even though NDC number is a mandatory requirement, but it is not required to appear on all drug labels and including the label of any prescription drug carton given to a consumer.  However, if the same drug product that are sold or used in the hospitals are required to put bar code on their products.

NDC Directory does not include animal drugs, blood products, API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients), drugs manufactured exclusively for a PLD, or drugs that are marketed as a part of a kit or combination product or inner cover of a multi-level packaged product not marketed separately.

Liberty Management Group Ltd, provides assistance with drugs establishment registration, NDC labeler code request, Drug Listing and US agent service to foreign facilities.

Sudha S

Regulatory Consultant

Mail: office@libertymanagement.us

http://www.fdahelp.us

OVER-THE-COUNTER (OTC) DRUG PRODUCTS

Over-the-Counter drugs (OTC)  also known as nonprescription drugs are medications sold directly to consumers without a prescription from a physician. OTC drugs are in general considered as safe and effective for use by the consumers without getting treatment from a healthcare professional.  There are more than 300,000 OTC drugs are marketed with about 800 active ingredients.

Although there are more than 80 therapeutic categories of OTC drugs, starting from acne products to weight management drugs, FDA is not approving OTC products, but Center of Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) ensures that OTC drugs are properly labeled and its ingredients listings. For each category, FDA developed an OTC drug monograph and published in the Federal Register. OTC drug monograph provided guidance which covers doses, acceptable ingredients, formulations and labelling requirements.  When the company adheres to OTC monograph, it can make and market an OTC drugs without FDA’s pre-approval.  OTC monographs defines the safety, efficiency and labeling of all OTC active ingredients. The drugs for which the active ingredients is not OTC monograph, has to apply for New Drug Application (NDA) or Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA).

FD&C acts requires firms that manufacture, contract manufacture, repack or re-label or salvaging of OTC drugs in the United States or that are offered for import in the U.S are required to register with FDA and renew their registration annually. Also domestic and foreign establishments must list all drugs that they manufactured, prepared, propagated, compounded, or processed for commercial distribution in the U.S. Foreign firms are required to identify a U.S agent and importers at the time of registration.

FDA Drug establishment registration needs to be submitted electronically using Extensible Markup Language (XML) files in the Structured Product Labeling (SPL) format. The firms must use FDA’s Electronic Submission Gateway (ESG) to submit SPL files.

Private Label Distributors (PLD) are not required to register their establishment with FDA, however they have to apply for their own Labeler code and list their drugs with FDA. FDA has a released a list of summary of registration and listings requirements for the manufacture or distribution of human pharmaceuticals, which can be seen at https://www.fdahelp.us/Pdf/Drug.pdf

Drug establishments that are registered with FDA must list all the products they manufacture for commercial distribution under their own labeler code, which includes the API manufacturers, bulk manufacturers, contract manufacturers, re-packers and re-labelers.

FDA has published a regulation establishing standardized content and format for the labeling of OTC drug products (Drug Facts labeling). The Drug Facts labeling for OTC drug products is intended to make it easier for consumers to read and understand OTC drug product labeling and use OTC drug products safely and effectively. All drugs or drug products in finished package form is considered as misbranded if it does not comply with FDA labeling requirements.

Liberty Management Group provides assistance with drug establishment registration, drug listing and label review.

Sudha S

Regulatory Consultant

Mail: office@libertymanagement.us

http://www.fdahelp.us