The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (BPCI Act) deemed any biological product approved in a new drug application (NDA) to be a biologics license application (BLA) on March 23, 2020. Some of the affected former NDAs were approved using drug master files (DMFs). A DMF, or other master file, allows an applicant to incorporate proprietary information from another manufacturer into its application by reference to the master file. FDA’s longstanding policy is that BLAs generally may not rely on drug substance, drug substance intermediate, or drug product information contained in master files.

The final rule will codify that a biological product that was originally approved as an NDA under the FD&C Act can continue to reference a DMF for drug substance, drug substance intermediate, or drug product information after the application is deemed to be a license under the PHS Act. The final rule also codifies FDA’s existing practice that a BLA may not otherwise rely on a master file for information concerning a drug substance, a drug substance intermediate, or a drug product except in the investigational phase of the application under an investigational new drug application. The final rule also clarifies that the non-biological constituent part(s) of a combination product in a BLA may rely on any information in a master file.