CPRX Jacobus Firdapse Appeal 30 Sep 21
CPRX Jacobus Firdapse Appeal 30 Sep 21
[PUBLISH]
No. 20-13922
________________________
Plaintiff - Appellant,
versus
Defendants – Appellees,
Intervenor-Defendant – Appellee.
________________________
This appeal asks us to determine whether the statutory phrase “same disease
ambiguous. It is not. By finding this statutory phrase ambiguous and then deferring
to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s interpretation of it, the district court
erred. We therefore reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor
of the Defendants 1 and Jacobus, and remand with instructions to grant summary
In 1983, Congress enacted the Orphan Drug Act, thereby amending the
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”). See Pub. L. 97-414, 96 Stat. 2049
1
Catalyst named Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services; Norman Sharpless,
Acting Commissioner of the FDA; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration as the Defendants in its Complaint. During the pendency of
this case, the administration changed, and Secretary Azar and Acting Commissioner Sharpless
resigned their positions. We therefore have substituted as defendants-appellees the proper
individuals in their official capacity. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(d) (“An action does not abate when a
public officer who is a party in an official capacity dies, resigns, or otherwise ceases to hold office
while the action is pending. The officer’s successor is automatically substituted as a party. Later
proceedings should be in the substituted party’s name, but any misnomer not affecting the parties’
substantial rights must be disregarded. The court may order substitution at any time, but the
absence of such an order does not affect the substitution.”).
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diseases that affect such a small portion of the population that there otherwise would
for a seven-year period. The framework established by the Orphan Drug Act is fairly
market exclusivity. Each of these steps is governed by a separate part of the Orphan
Drug Act.
1. Designation
disease or condition” as one that “(A) affects less than 200,000 persons in the United
States, or (B) affects more than 200,000 in the United States and for which there is
no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making available in the
United States a drug for such disease or condition will be recovered from sales in
the United States of such drug.” Designation allows the manufacturer to take
2. Approval
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must be approved by the FDA. See 21 U.S.C. § 355(a)–(b). The Orphan Drug Act
expressly requires approval pursuant to § 355 before market exclusivity arises. See
id. § 360bb(a). When the manufacturer files a new drug application (“NDA”), it
must include clinical data demonstrating that the drug is safe for use and effective in
use. See id. § 355(b)(1)(A). The manufacturer must identify the new drug’s
“proposed indications for use,” see 21 C.F.R. § 314.50(a)(1), and, if approved by the
FDA, see § 355(c)(1), the manufacturer may market the drug solely for the specific
indications2 for which the FDA approved it, see Ironworks Local Union 68 v.
AstraZeneca Pharms., LP, 634 F.3d 1352, 1356 n.5 (11th Cir. 2011). “The process
of submitting an NDA is both onerous and lengthy,” Mut. Pharm. Co. v. Bartlett,
570 U.S. 472, 476–77 (2013), and it involves significant “risk and expense,”
Ethypharm S.A. Fr. v. Abbott Labs., 707 F.3d 223, 226 (3d Cir. 2013).
3. Exclusivity
approval of the orphan drug, the manufacturer of the orphan drug is granted market
exclusivity for a defined period of time. Specifically, the Orphan Drug Act provides:
2
“Indications” is a term of art that means the drug’s “intended use or uses.” United States
ex rel. Polansky v. Pfizer, Inc., 822 F.3d 613, 615 (2d Cir. 2016).
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for a drug designated under section 360bb of this title for a rare disease
or condition, the Secretary may not approve another application under
section 355 of this title or issue another license under section 262 of
Title 42 for the same drug for the same disease or condition for a
person who is not the holder of such approved application or of such
license until the expiration of seven years from the date of the approval
of the approved application or the issuance of the license.
21 U.S.C. § 360cc(a) (emphasis added). The Orphan Drug Act does not define
“same disease or condition,” the statutory phrase that is the subject of this dispute. 3
The first two are found in 21 U.S.C. § 360cc(b).4 First, the FDA can abrogate the
3
Through regulation, the FDA has defined “same drug” as “a drug that contains the same
active moiety as a previously approved drug and is intended for the same use as the previously
approved drug.” 21 C.F.R. § 316.3(b)(14)(i). “Moiety,” in this context, means the same active
ingredient. See id. § 316.3(b)(2).
4
Specifically, § 360cc(b) states:
(1) the Secretary finds, after providing the holder of exclusive approval or licensure
notice and opportunity for the submission of views, that during such period the
holder of the exclusive approval or licensure cannot ensure the availability of
sufficient quantities of the drug to meet the needs of persons with the disease or
condition for which the drug was designated; or
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finds “that during such period the holder of the exclusive approval or licensure
cannot ensure the availability of sufficient quantities of the drug.” Id. § 360cc(b)(1).
Second, a drug manufacturer can waive its exclusivity by written consent. Id.
§ 360cc(b)(2).
Third, as part of the 2017 reauthorization and statutory overhaul of the Orphan
Drug Act,5 Congress codified the concept of “clinical superiority” to § 360cc(c) and
(e). Under these provisions, during the statutory exclusivity period, a different
manufacturer of the same drug can obtain approval of an NDA to use the drug to
(2) the holder provides the Secretary in writing the consent of such holder for the
approval of other applications or the issuance of other licenses before the expiration
of such seven-year period.
5
See FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017, Pub. L. No. 115-52, § 607, 131 Stat. 1005, 1049–
50.
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disease that causes the immune system to attack the body’s own tissues. It is
considered an “orphan disease” with less than 0.001% of the population affected—
diagnosed cases in the United States range from roughly 950 to 1,300. And the
nationwide. From all indications in the record evidence, LEMS affects adults and
symptoms, the treatment regimens, and even adverse events all point to the same
diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of LEMS for both adults and children.
November 12, 2009, the FDA designated Firdapse as an orphan drug for the
designation that limits the “rare disease or condition” to subsets of people (e.g.,
adults or children) suffering from LEMS. Catalyst filed its first NDA in December
2015, which the FDA rejected as “not sufficiently complete to permit a substantive
review.” In March 2018, Catalyst re-filed its NDA, and the FDA approved Firdapse
for the treatment of LEMS “in adults” on November 28, 2018. Consistent with the
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Orphan Drug Act, the FDA granted Catalyst exclusivity through November 28,
for the treatment of LEMS. In fact, the FDA had designated Ruzurgi as an orphan
limited to specific groups or subsets of individuals suffering from LEMS, i.e., the
“rare disease or condition.” While Jacobus continued its development and testing
for more than two decades, physicians at the Mayo Clinic and Duke University have
used Ruzurgi to treat patients with LEMS for free since at least January 1993 under
the FDA’s “compassionate use” program. Jacobus submitted its first NDA for
Ruzurgi in August 2017, which the FDA rejected. In June 2018, Jacobus re-filed its
NDA. In its NDA, Jacobus included the following label for Ruzurgi:
Firdapse, had exclusivity “for the treatment of LEMS in adults that could potentially
FDA “administratively divided” Jacobus’s NDA into two parts: one for the treatment
of LEMS in pediatric patients, and the other for the treatment of LEMS in adult
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patients, “to allow for independent action in these populations.” Following its
review, the FDA approved Ruzurgi on May 6, 2019 “in patients 6 to less than 17
years of age.”
By the FDA’s own admission, this was likely the first time it ever “approved
an application for a drug with an indication to treat pediatric patients for a certain
disease while another sponsor has obtained orphan drug exclusivity for a drug
application for the same drug with only an indication to treat adult patients for that
disease.” Nevertheless, the FDA concluded that approving Ruzurgi did not violate
patients.
Jacobus’s NDA was unique for several additional reasons. First, Jacobus never
pediatric-only approval, and Catalyst contends this would have been “plainly
nationwide. Second, Jacobus never conducted any clinical trials in children; every
single patient in its clinical trials was an adult. Indeed, Jacobus was able to submit
limited data only on pediatric safety, not efficacy—and Jacobus’s data came from
the expanded access program of compassionate use, not its clinical trials. Pursuant
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to 21 U.S.C. § 355(b)(1), however, both safety and efficacy data are required for
approval of an NDA.
“[a]n order vacating Defendants’ approval of Ruzurgi.” Catalyst based its claims on
two premises. First, Catalyst argued that the plain language of the Orphan Drug Act
prohibited the FDA from approving Ruzurgi because it is the “same drug” as
Firdapse and treats the “same disease or condition” as Firdapse. Second, Catalyst
argued that Ruzurgi could not be approved under the FDCA because it contains
in plain violation of an FDA regulation, that “the drug can be used for adult patients
with LEMS, notwithstanding the fact that Ruzurgi only obtained approval to treat
pediatric patients.”
Each party moved for summary judgment. For purposes of these motions, it
was undisputed that: (1) Firdapase and Ruzurgi are the “same drug” under the
Orphan Drug Act, and (2) LEMS is “a single disease.” The district court referred
the motions to the magistrate judge for a report and recommendation. Based on its
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the phrase “same disease or condition” in § 360cc(a) of the Orphan Drug Act is
ambiguous and that the FDA’s interpretation of the phrase was reasonable. The
magistrate judge also determined that the FDA’s approval of Ruzurgi’s labeling did
not violate the FDCA. As a result, the magistrate judge recommended granting the
Defendants’ motions for summary judgment and denying Catalyst’s motion for
summary judgment.
The district court affirmed and adopted the report and recommendation in full.
The district court stated that the crux of the case was “whether the language of
section 360cc is ambiguous.” Like the magistrate judge, the district court first noted
that there was no dispute between the parties that Firdapse and Ruzurgi are the “same
drug.” The district court focused on the statutory phrase “same disease or
condition,” finding it ambiguous and quoting with approval the magistrate judge’s
conclusion that “‘it is unclear whether that phrase refers to the use for which the drug
is approved after it submits its [NDA]’—here, LEMS for adults—‘or the disease or
patients.” The district court also found that because § 360cc was ambiguous it
needed to determine whether the FDA’s interpretation of the statute was reasonable.
As for Catalyst’s count alleging Ruzurgi’s false or misleading labeling, the district
6
See Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Nat. Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842 (1984).
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court noted that Catalyst “fail[ed] to present any case law in support of its
position . . . [and] present[ed] no authority that would call into question the FDA’s
interpretation.” Williams v. Sec’y, U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 741 F.3d 1228,
1231 (11th Cir. 2014). In reviewing an order granting summary judgment, we are
guided by the well-established rule that summary judgment is appropriate “if the
movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant
is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). Because this case
involves a challenge to agency action, our de novo review of the district court’s grant
of summary judgment is, in effect, a direct review of the agency’s decision. Purepac
Pharm. Co. v. Thompson, 354 F.3d 877, 883 (D.C. Cir. 2004). Under the APA, we
must “hold unlawful and set aside agency action . . . found to be . . . arbitrary,
U.S.C. § 706(2)(A); accord Miami-Dade County v. EPA, 529 F.3d 1049, 1058 (11th
Cir. 2008).
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III. ANALYSIS
On appeal, Catalyst raises three issues. First, Catalyst argues that the Orphan
Drug Act’s language providing exclusivity for “the same disease and condition” is
unambiguous, and therefore, the district court erred in determining that the Orphan
Drug Act permits the FDA to grant orphan drug exclusivity to the “same drug” based
on the drug’s “use or indication.” Second, Catalyst argues that, even if the Orphan
Drug Act is ambiguous, the district court erred in concluding that the FDA’s “use or
indications” interpretation of the Orphan Drug Act was reasonable. Third, Catalyst
argues that the district court erred in concluding that Jacobus’s NDA for Ruzurgi did
not violate the FDCA’s labeling requirements. Because we agree with Catalyst on
its first argument and reverse on that basis, we do not reach or address the merits of
statute itself. CBS Inc. v. PrimeTime 24 Joint Venture, 245 F.3d 1217, 1225 n.6
(11th Cir. 2001); Alfaro-Garcia v. U.S. Atty. Gen., 981 F.3d 978, 981–82 (11th Cir.
is that ‘[courts] “begin[] where all such inquiries must begin: with the language of
the statute itself,” and . . . give effect to the plain terms of the statute.’” (second
alteration in original) (quoting In re Valone, 784 F.3d 1398, 1402 (11th Cir. 2015))).
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for a drug designated under section 360bb of this title for a rare disease
or condition, the Secretary may not approve another application under
section 355 of this title or issue another license under section 262 of
Title 42 for the same drug for the same disease or condition for a person
who is not the holder of such approved application or of such license
until the expiration of seven years from the date of the approval of the
approved application or the issuance of the license. . . .
(emphasis added). The district court found this section of the Orphan Drug Act
ambiguous because (1) the statute does not define “same disease or condition” and
(2) Congress failed to clarify whether that phrase refers to the use for which the drug
is approved after it submits its NDA or for which it received orphan drug
designation.
We conclude that the district court erred in finding § 360cc of the Orphan
Drug Act ambiguous. First, “a statute is not ambiguous merely because it contains
a term without a statutory definition.” United States v. Sepulveda, 115 F.3d 882,
886 n.9 (11th Cir. 1997). Indeed, “Congress is ‘not required to define each and every
word in a piece of legislation in order to express clearly its will.’” Id. (quoting
Newsom v. Friedman, 76 F.3d 813, 817 (7th Cir. 1996)). As we have recognized,
“[w]e interpret words that are not defined in a statute with their ordinary and plain
meaning because we assume that Congress uses words in a statute as they are
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commonly understood.” Polycarpe v. E&S Landscaping Serv., Inc., 616 F.3d 1217,
1223 (11th Cir. 2010) (alteration in original) (defining various terms in the Fair
Labor Standards Act using everyday dictionaries). Moreover, courts do not read
individual words or terms in isolation, but instead in light of their context within a
particular text. Ruiz v. Wing, 991 F.3d 1130, 1138 (11th Cir. 2021). Indeed, “[w]hile
most words carry more than one dictionary definition, ‘[o]ne should assume the
otherwise.’” Id. (quoting Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Garner, Reading Law 70
(2012)).
Because neither the FDA nor Jacobus disputes that LEMS is a “disease,” the
issue before us is the meaning of the word “same” as used in the phrase “same
disease or condition.” “Same,” when used as an adjective, has more than one
defines “same” as: (1) “resembling in every relevant respect; conforming in every
respect (used with “as”)”; (2) “being one without addition, change, or
discontinuance: identical; being the one under discussion or already referred to”; (3)
value, or importance (usually used with the or a demonstrative (such as that, those).”
webster.com/collegiate/same.
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filed pursuant to section 355 of this title . . . for a drug designated under section
360bb . . . for a rare disease or condition, the Secretary may not approve another
application under section 355 . . . for the same drug for the same disease or
condition” until the expiration of seven years. Here, the word “same” is being used
in the sense of “being the one under discussion or already referred to.” The only
condition” for which the drug was “designated under § 360bb.” The ordinary and
plain meaning of “same drug or condition” read in the context of this sentence yields
only one result—the term unambiguously refers to the “rare disease or condition”
Catalyst’s Firdapse as an orphan drug for treating the “rare disease or condition” of
LEMS. As discussed earlier, LEMS is the same disease in all people suffering from
it, regardless of their age, and there is nothing in the record to suggest that the FDA
Firdapse applied to anything other than LEMS for all people suffering from the
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amifampridine to treat LEMS, i.e., the “same disease or condition” that was
designated under § 360bb, for a seven-year period. Because the active ingredient in
the FDA from approving Jacobus’s NDA to use Ruzurgi to treat LEMS.
in § 360cc(a) was ambiguous, the district court looked to another section of the
FDCA—21 U.S.C. § 355—which governs NDAs for many drugs, including orphan
drugs. The district court noted that § 360cc(a) expressly refers to § 355 and that
§ 355 requires a drug manufacturer, as part of its NDA, to provide evidence that the
drug is safe and effective for its intended use. 7 The district court further noted that
the FDA’s approval of Catalyst’s NDA under § 355 was for the treatment of LEMS
“in adults.” The district court concluded that it was not clear whether “same disease
or condition” refers to the “use” approved by the FDA to treat a disease or condition
pursuant to § 360bb of the Orphan Drug Act. Because it concluded that either
interpretation was reasonable, the district court deferred to the FDA’s interpretation
7
See § 355(b)(1)(A) (stating that drug manufacturer must provide the FDA with “full
reports of investigations which have been made to show whether or not such drug is safe for use
and whether such drug is effective in use.”
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The district court’s determination that the phrase “same disease or condition”
is ambiguous, however, is not supported by the statutory text. First, the provisions
of § 355, which apply generally to all NDAs and not solely those for orphan drugs,
use different, more limited language, e.g., “safe” and “effective” for “use,” rather
that Congress acts intentionally when it omits language included elsewhere in the
same statute, see Dep’t of Homeland Sec. v MacLean, 574 U.S. 383, 392 (2015)
(explaining the interpretive canon that Congress acts intentionally when it omits
language included elsewhere); Jian Le Lin v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 681 F.3d 1236, 1240
(11th Cir. 2012) (“[An] inference may be drawn from the exclusion of language from
one statutory provision that is included in other provisions of the same statute.”
(quoting Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557, 578 (2006))), and we must give
language.” CBS Inc., 245 F.3d at 1228 (alteration in original). And “we are not
allowed to add or subtract words from a statute; we cannot rewrite it.” Friends of
the Everglades v. S. Fla. Water Mgmt. Dist., 570 F.3d 1210, 1224 (11th Cir. 2009).
market exclusivity for an orphan drug, it could have done so by including such
language in § 360cc(a). The fact that Congress did not include that language
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And, as we have already discussed, the “same disease or condition” already referred
to in § 360cc(a) is the “rare disease or condition” for which the drug was “designated
under § 360bb.”
if the Secretary—
for a drug designated under section 360bb of this title for a rare disease
or condition, the Secretary may not approve another application under
section 355 of this section or issue another license under section 262 of
Title 42 for the same drug for the same disease or condition . . . .
The references to § 355 and § 262 simply identify what must occur to trigger market
§ 262) and what the FDA is prohibited from doing once both the designation and
approval conditions are met (approve another application under § 355 or issue
another license under § 262.) There is nothing in the express language of § 360cc
limitations of either § 355 or § 262, nor does the context in which the language
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Third, although Congress did not define “same disease or condition,” it did
define “rare disease or condition”—the first phrase used and then referred back to in
request the FDA designate its drug “as a drug for a rare disease or condition.”
any disease or condition which (A) affects less than 200,000 persons in
the United States, or (B) affects more than 200,000 in the United States
and for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of
developing and making available in the United States a drug for such
disease or condition will be recovered from sales in the United States
of such drug.
§ 360bb(a)(2). The statutory definition depends solely upon the modifier “rare.” In
other words, a disease or condition is “rare” under the Orphan Drug Act if it meets
one of the two statutory conditions relating to how many people it affects. And while
Congress could have included an additional use-specific definition for the words
“disease or condition,” it chose not to do so. By defining the term “rare disease or
condition” in this manner—“rare” being defined, but the words “disease” and
the obligation to interpret those words and apply the ordinary and plain meaning of
those words as they are commonly understood. See Polycarpe, 616 F.3d at 1223.
Moreover, “reasonable statutory interpretation must account for both ‘the specific
context in which . . . language is used’ and ‘the broader context of the statute as a
whole.’” Util. Air Regul. Grp. v. EPA, 573 U.S. 302, 321 (2014) (quoting Robinson
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v. Shell Oil Co., 519 U.S. 337, 341 (1997)). The Orphan Drug Act addresses drugs
developed and designated for rare diseases or conditions. By its express language,
§ 360cc provides exclusivity and protection from others marketing the same drug
for the rare disease or condition for which the orphan drug was designated pursuant
to § 360bb.
Burwell, 824 F.3d 1062 (D.C. Cir. 2016), and Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v.
Schwetz, 288 F.3d 141 (4th Cir. 2002), in support of its finding of ambiguity was
misplaced. In Spectrum, the question before the court was whether intended off-
label use mattered for purposes of § 360cc(a)’s exclusivity. See 824 F.3d at 1067.
Spectrum first obtained orphan drug designation and FDA approval for a drug to
treat liver damage, with its market exclusivity expiring in 2015. Id. at 1064.
Spectrum then obtained orphan drug designation and FDA approval for the same
colorectal cancer, with its market exclusivity expiring in 2018. Id. After exclusivity
for the liver damage treatment expired, another manufacturer obtained FDA
approval to sell a generic version of Spectrum’s drug to treat liver damage. Id.
Spectrum filed suit, asserting that the generic manufacturer intended to market the
drug for off-label use for pain management, thereby infringing on Spectrum’s
remaining exclusivity period for that condition. Id. The district court granted
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summary judgment against Spectrum, and the D.C. Circuit affirmed, stating that “the
words ‘for such disease or condition’ suggest that Congress intended to make section
360cc ‘disease-specific, not drug-specific,’ and the rest of the statutory language
focuses on protecting approved indications, not intended off-label uses.” Id. at 1067
Like Spectrum, the issue in Sigma-Tau dealt with the scope of market
exclusivity in the context of off-label use. Sigma-Tau first obtained orphan drug
designation and FDA approval for a drug to treat carnitine deficiency in people with
inborn metabolic disorders, with its market exclusivity expiring in 1999. 288 F.3d
at 143. Sigma-Tau then obtained orphan drug designation and FDA approval for the
with end-stage renal disease (“ESRD”), with its market exclusivity expiring in 2006.
Id. After exclusivity for the treatment of inborn metabolic disorders expired, two
to treat carnitine deficiency in people with inborn metabolic disorders. Id. Like the
intended to market the drug for ESRD-related treatment and that the market
8
Both Spectrum and Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals involved claims arising under the prior
version of § 360cc, which used the term “such disease or condition.” That language was amended
as part of the 2017 overhaul of the Orphan Drug Act to the current term “same disease or
condition.” See 131 Stat. at 1049–50.
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approval. Id. at 143–44. The Fourth Circuit concluded that the Orphan Drug Act
allowed for the approval of a generic version of a drug “for an indication that was
no longer protected by market exclusivity.” Id. at 143. The court noted that the
Orphan Drug Act is disease-specific and stated, “[i]n other words, the statute as
written protects uses, not drugs for any and all uses.” Id. at 145. While the Fourth
Circuit in Sigma-Tau certainly used the terms “uses” and “indications,” to read that
general, is to take the court’s language out of context, as it is clear that the Fourth
Circuit is comparing use of the same drug to treat different diseases and is using
exclusivity in the context of the treatment of different diseases; neither court was
application under § 355 or issuing a license under § 262. We hold therefore that the
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disease referred to in the phrase “same disease or condition” is the “rare disease or
We further hold that the phrase “same disease or condition” in § 360cc of the
Orphan Drug Act is not ambiguous, as it plainly refers back to the term—“rare
the references in § 360cc(a) to § 355 and § 262 simply identify what agency actions
satisfy the approval condition and what actions cannot occur once both designation
and approval occurs. In this case, § 360cc prohibits the approval of subsequent
under § 360bb—while Catalyst holds its seven-year exclusivity. Unless one of the
subset of the population for LEMS. The district court therefore erred in finding that
not ambiguous, we also conclude that the district court erred in treating this as a
Consumer Advocs. v. FCC, 457 F.3d 1238, 1253 (11th Cir. 2006) (quoting Chevron,
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U.S.A., Inc. v. Nat. Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842 (1984)), modified on
denial of reh’g, 468 F.3d 1272 (11th Cir. 2006). We first consider whether Congress
has directly spoken to the precise question at issue in the case, and, if Congress’s
Congress.” Id. (quoting Chevron, 467 U.S. at 843). Where a statute is silent or
ambiguous with respect to the specific issue, however, we must determine “whether
Because the statute here is unambiguous, “that is the end of the matter; for the
court, as well as the agency, must give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent
of Congress.” Wilderness Watch & Pub. Emps. for Env’t Resp. v. Mainella, 375
F.3d 1085, 1091 (11th Cir. 2004). Courts “do not defer to an agency’s interpretation
of a statute when the text is clear.” Villarreal v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 839
F.3d 958, 970 (11th Cir. 2016). And here, the FDA’s interpretation of Orphan Drug
review is de novo, and the parties agree that no genuine issues of material fact exist.
The undisputed record evidence establishes that: (1) LEMS is a rare disease as
LEMS pursuant to § 360bb; (3) the FDA’s designation of Firdapse to treat LEMS
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was not for a specific category of patients suffering from LEMS; (4) Firdapse was
granted approval by the FDA pursuant to § 355 and was granted market exclusivity
pursuant to § 360cc prior to the FDA’s approval of Jacobus’s NDA for Ruzurgi; (5)
the active ingredient in both Firdapse and Ruzurgi is amifampridine; (6) Ruzurgi is
the “same drug” as Firdapse; (7) Firdapse and Ruzurgi both treat LEMS; and (8)
Firdapse’s exclusivity had not expired at the time the FDA approved Ruzurgi.
Additionally, none of the three statutory exceptions to market exclusivity apply here:
(1) the parties agree that Catalyst can ensure sufficient quantities of Firdapse, see
§ 360cc(b)(1); (2) there is no record evidence that Catalyst waived its exclusivity by
written consent, see § 360cc(b)(2); and (3) there is no record evidence that Jacobus
filed its NDA based on the representation that Ruzurgi is clinically superior to
Based on these undisputed facts and record evidence, the FDA’s approval of
Ruzurgi was contrary to the unambiguous language of the Orphan Drug Act.
orphan drug, for a period of seven years in order to treat the rare autoimmune disease,
market exclusivity apply, the FDA was prohibited from approving for sale the same
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USCA11 Case: 20-13922 Date Filed: 09/30/2021 Page: 27 of 27
the FDA’s agency’s action was arbitrary, capricious, and not in accordance with law,
and its approval of Ruzurgi must be set aside. See 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A); Miami-
IV. CONCLUSION
Firdapse, i.e., amifampridine, to treat LEMS and that none of the statutory
summary judgment in its favor. The district court’s grant of summary judgment in
favor of Defendants and Jacobus is reversed, and on remand, the district court shall
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