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This guidance document applies to sponsors intending to make changes to new drugs that have received a NOC pursuant to section C.08.004 of the Food and Drug Regulations. These new drugs may include pharmaceuticals, biologics, and radiopharmaceuticals for human use, including those submissions for which a NOC has been recommended but issuance of the NOC has been placed on hold.

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to sponsors to facilitate compliance with the labelling requirements pursuant to sections 3, 9, and 10 of the Food and Drugs Act as well as related provisions of the Food and Drug Regulations and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

A post-NOC change is any change that is made to a new drug that has received a NOC pursuant to section C.08.004 of the Food and Drug Regulations. Many of these changes may be made to improve the quality of the drug product or the efficiency of the manufacturing process, or they could be made for marketing considerations. Changes to the labelling of a drug product could include adding new indications, improving the management of risk for a product by adding warnings, limiting the target population or changing the dosage regime etc.

This guidance is intended to harmonize and to update the prescribing information for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs () indicated for controlling pain and inflammation associated with rheumatic diseases and other less severe conditions. Each Product Monograph is expected to contain objective, adequate and concise information on properties common to the active component and specific to the drug product. It should provide guidance on the safe and effective use of the drug, not only to the practitioner but also to the patient.

The NOC is issued to a manufacturer following the satisfactory review of a submission for a new drug, and signifies compliance with the Food and Drug Regulations. The database is updated nightly and contains NOC information on human drugs from January 1, 1994 to date. It also contains NOC information on Veterinary drugs from September 19, 2000 to date.

This Notice serves to inform sponsors of drug submissions pursuant to Division C.08 of the Food and Drug Regulations (that is [i.e.], new drug and abbreviated new drug submissions) of changes in Health Canada's comparative bioavailability requirements for drug products which exhibit large pharmacokinetic within-subject variation in extent of absorption, as measured by area under the concentration versus time curve (AUC).

This guidance document applies to sponsors intending to make changes to new drugs that have received a NOC pursuant to section C.08.004 of the Food and Drug Regulations. These new drugs may include pharmaceuticals, biologics, and radiopharmaceuticals for human use and pharmaceutical and certain biotechnological products for veterinary use, including those submissions for which a NOC has been recommended but issuance of the NOC has been placed on hold.

Labelling standards are developed for drugs that have a well characterized safety and efficacy profile under specific conditions of use. A manufacturer may reference a labelling standard in a drug submission when the product and its labelling are consistent with the information set out in the document.

The Drug Product Database (DPD) system captures information on Canadian human, veterinary and disinfectant products approved for use by Health Canada. To facilitate the use of the drug product data, multiple Drug Product files are available. Users can access the complete data set through the “Drug Product” file. Subsets of the data can be accessed in the “Drug Product By …” files.

The purpose of this guidance document is to assist sponsors in developing product monographs with acceptable format and content. Health Canada reviews the product monograph as part of the drug review process, as it forms an integral part of a new drug submission. A product monograph is intended to provide the necessary information for the safe and effective use of a new drug and also to serve as a standard against which all promotion and advertising of the drug can be compared.