21 CFR § 601.90 - Scope.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t21/s601.90"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "21 CFR § 601.90 - Scope."
title_number: 21
title_name: "Food and Drugs"
section_number: "601.90"
section_name: "Scope."
chapter_name: "FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES"
subchapter_number: "F"
subchapter_name: "BIOLOGICS"
part_number: "601"
part_name: "LICENSING"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "15 U.S.C. 1451-1561; 21 U.S.C. 321, 351, 352, 353, 355, 356b, 360, 360c-360f, 360h-360j, 371, 374, 379e, 381; 42 U.S.C. 216, 241, 262, 263, 264; sec 122, Pub. L. 105-115, 111 Stat. 2322 (21 U.S.C. 355 note), sec 7002(e), Pub. L. 111-148, 124 Stat. 817, as amended by sec. 607, Division N, Pub. L. 116-94, 133 Stat. 3127."
regulatory_source: "38 FR 32052, Nov. 20, 1973, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "601"
---


# 601.90 Scope.

This subpart applies to certain biological products that have been studied for their safety and efficacy in ameliorating or preventing serious or life-threatening conditions caused by exposure to lethal or permanently disabling toxic biological, chemical, radiological, or nuclear substances. This subpart applies only to those biological products for which: Definitive human efficacy studies cannot be conducted because it would be unethical to deliberately expose healthy human volunteers to a lethal or permanently disabling toxic biological, chemical, radiological, or nuclear substance; and field trials to study the product's efficacy after an accidental or hostile exposure have not been feasible. This subpart does not apply to products that can be approved based on efficacy standards described elsewhere in FDA's regulations (e.g., accelerated approval based on surrogate markers or clinical endpoints other than survival or irreversible morbidity), nor does it address the safety evaluation for the products to which it does apply.