North American Pharmacal, Inc. v. Department of Health, Education, & Welfare

491 F.2d 546
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedDecember 28, 1973
DocketNos. 73-1252, 73-1386
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 491 F.2d 546 (North American Pharmacal, Inc. v. Department of Health, Education, & Welfare) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
North American Pharmacal, Inc. v. Department of Health, Education, & Welfare, 491 F.2d 546 (8th Cir. 1973).

Opinion

GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

Petitioners, manufacturers of anorectic drugs 1 containing amphetamines, in this original action ask for injunctive relief and to set aside an order of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [548]*548withdrawing approval of all New-Drug Applications (NDA’s) covering combination amphetamine products. Jurisdiction in this court is predicated upon 21 U.S.C. § 355(h) which provides for appellate review of final orders of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare withdrawing approval of NDA’s. In view of the serious questions presented as to our jurisdiction to entertain certain claims of the Petitioners, we will relate in some detail the background of this case.

On August 8, 1970, the Respondent, FDA, amended 21 C.F.R. § 130.46 by publishing in 35 Fed.Reg. 12652 a statement of policy dealing with amphetamines for human use. The FDA found that current labeling of these drugs did not accurately reflect the present state of knowledge regarding their usefulness, and required all such drugs to be relabeled within 60 days from the effective date of the regulation. Subsection 6 of 21 C.F.R. § 130.46 (1971) provided in part:

Combination products labeled as required by this section are regarded as new drugs and must be subjects of approved new-drug applications.

Manufacturers of combination drugs were given one year in which to submit NDA’s. The FDA received 106 NDA’s but only one of the Petitioners, Eastern Research Laboratories, submitted NDA’s for their drugs as required by this regulation.

On October 31, 1972, the FDA promulgated a new regulation, 21 C.F.R. § 130.-40, which made its Drug Efficacy Study Implementation Notices and Notices of Opportunity for Hearing applicable to all identical, related and similar drugs. This allowed the FDA to proceed against entire classes of drugs at one time rather than on an ad hoc case-by-case basis. This procedure was subsequently approved in Weinberger v. Hynson, Westcott & Dunning, Inc., 412 U.S. 609, 93 S.Ct. 2469, 37 L.Ed.2d 207 (1973). February 12, 1973, the FDA published in 38 Fed.Reg. 4279 its intention to withdraw NDA’s covering combination amphetamine products and sent statutorily required notices to the holders of NDA’s, including Petitioner Eastern Research Laboratories. The notices and conclusions on the safety and efficacy of these drugs were also, pursuant to 21 C.F.R. § 130.40, directed to and affected the Petitioners as manufacturers of the so-called “me-too” drugs, drugs similar in content and formulation to the previously approved new-drugs, which approval the FDA proposed to withdraw. Manufacturers who had submitted NDA’s were notified by certified mail and other interested parties were notified of an opportunity for hearing by the Federal Register publication, provided they submitted a well-organized and full factual analysis of data in support of their opposition to withdrawal. Although five requests for a hearing were filed by other manufacturers, none of the Petitioners in this case requested a hearing during the time allowed.

March 30, 1973, the FDA published in 38 Fed.Reg. 8290 a “Notice of Withdrawal of Approval of New Drug Applications” that withdrew approval of NDA’s for combination amphetamine drugs, except those for which hearings had been requested. No request for a hearing was filed by Petitioners. Subsequently, they were notified by certified mail that their products were included in the withdrawal order and were told these products could no longer be manufactured or shipped in interstate commerce, and were requested to recall all such products in the chain of distribution.

Petitioners in No. 73-1252 filed their Petition for Review with this court together with an application for a stay on April 16, 1973. We issued a temporary restraining order April 23, 1973, which was vacated upon Respondent’s motion April 30, 1973. The cause was submitted to a panel of this court in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 14, 1973, at which time a stay order was entered to remain in [549]*549effect until the appeal was determined by us. In light of the Supreme Court decisions of June 18, 1973, in Weinberger v. Hynson, Westcott & Dunning, Inc., supra; Weinberger v. Bentex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 412 U.S. 645, 93 S.Ct. 2488, 37 L.Ed.2d 235; USV Pharmaceutical Corp. v. Weinberger, 412 U.S. 655, 93 S.Ct. 498, 37 L.Ed.2d 244; CIBA Corp. v. Weinberger, 412 U.S. 640, 93 S.Ct. 2495, 37 L.Ed.2d 230; which deal with the powers and procedures of the FDA, we vacated our submission of the case, consolidated the Petition for Review in No. 73-1386, which had been transferred to this circuit by the Fourth Circuit, with No. 73-1252, and granted the parties an additional period of time in which to file supplemental briefs directed towards the recent Supreme Court decisions. The case is now ready for final determination by this Court.

Petitioners present three issues which they claim warrant this court’s setting aside of the FDA withdrawal order of March 30, 1973. They claim: (1) the failure to give Petitioners personal notice of their opportunity for a hearing on the proposed withdrawal of approval denied them due process of law, (2) that Respondent’s order was not supported by substantial evidence, and (3) that Petitioners’ products were exempted from the FDA’s jurisdiction by the “grandfather” clause contained in the 1962 Amendments to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 76 Stati 788, § 107(c) (4).

The “Grandfather” Issue

Whether Petitioners’ drugs were “grandfathered” by the 1962 amendments, § 107(c)(4), is initially a matter for the determination of the FDA, subject to review in a district court pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act; hence this issue is not properly before the Court of Appeals. Weinberger v. Bentex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 412 U.S. 645, at 653, 93 S.Ct. 2488, at 2494, 37 L.Ed.2d 235 (1973) holds:

[T]he District Court’s referral of the “new drug” and the “grandfather” issues to FDA was appropriate, as these are the kinds of issues peculiarly suited to initial determination by the FDA. * * * Threshold questions within the particular expertise of an administrative agency are appropriately routed to the agency, while the court holds its hand.

That review of such an order is in the district court and not the Courts of Appeals is made explicit in Weinberger v. Hynson, Westcott & Dunning, Inc., 412 U.S. 609, 627, 93 S.Ct. 469, 2482, 37 L.Ed.2d 207 where the Court said:

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