Tetch14 Feb 2019 16:56
For your assistance
Though this is how CRLs are supposed to function, there are indicators suggesting the FDA has been using them for additional or alternative purposes. Under 21 C.F.R. § 314.100, the FDA has only 180 days in which to respond to a drug application with either an approval, rejection (very rare) or CRL. Given the complexity of NDAs and ANDAs, and the volume submitted annually to the FDA, 180 days may be insufficient for an application examiner to adequately and accurately respond.
As a result, CRLs are regularly used by the FDA in order to “buy time” to review the application. This is evident in the CRLs many companies receive containing bases for holding the application deficient citing issues or guidance documents entirely irrelevant to the application in question. Because even minor changes to the application under the resubmission option in § 314.110(b)(1) will award the FDA at least an additional two months to process the application, plus the 12 months an applicant is allowed to respond to the CRL, such letters are a valuable tool in acquiring additional time to examine the NDA or ANDA and for the FDA to process other applications.