Quality Systems

The US Food and Drug Administration is seeking volunteers from the pharmaceutical industry to participate in a pilot program involving the submission of quality information for biotechnology products.

The European Pharmacopeia Commission has published the General Information chapter "Potentially Genotoxic Impurities and European Pharmacopoeia Monographs on Substances for Human Use" in the July 2008 edition of PharmEuropa.

The European Pharmacopoeia Commission adopted revised monographs for heparin calcium and heparin sodium to strengthen the level of testing required for quality control.

A recent US government study shows that follow-on biologics are likely to have a favorable economic impact if proposed legislation authorizing a regulatory pathway in the US is approved.

After a one-year delay in its implementation, the US Pharmacopeia Chapter 467 "Residual Solvents" is now official.

The Congressional Budget Office has released a report that provides a picture of the financial impact from the enaction of S.1695, the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2007.

President Bush signed H.R. 2642, the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008, which provides $150 million to the US Food and Drug Administration for medical-safety and drug-safety activities.

A new book explains process analytical technology, drug stability, and quality.

The year 2011 may seem far off, but there is much to do to prepare for electronic pedigrees.

The authors describe the factors affecting reconstitution time of dry powder for injection and classifies them as intrinsic and extrinsic parameters.

A growing preference for public-private partnerships is spurring innovation and technology among Dutch pharmaceutical companies.

Clear labels for substances that can be used as excipients, APIs, or both are critical to end-product use.

They may have seemed harmless at first, but these ideas took a big bite.

Forums, blogs, and more can spark innovation.

With no economic relief in sight, industry, like all of us, is grappling with high-and new-costs.

New scientific discoveries promise to expand treatments for rare and neglected diseases.

Patient safety must be the primary concern of any validation effort. The author explains how a risk-based approach to validation and compliance follows naturally from this premise.

The US Pharmacopeia (USP) posted revised monographs for heparin sodium and heparin calcium on its website.

Also, Stiefel Laboratories will acquire Barrier Therapeutics, Danube Pharmaceuticals appoints Brian Levy COO, more...

With most deadlines missed for reviewing each abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) it receives, the US Food and Drug Administration is likely to take advice from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on how to speed up its process.

Effective July 1, 2008, the Office of Generic Drugs (OGD) will require abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) to include data that demonstrate the manufacturer's control of residual solvents.

The US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency will collaborate in efforts that would allow drug companies to submit results of seven new drug-safety tests.

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), member of the Senate Health, Education and Labor Pensions (HELP) Committee, is requesting additional information from the US Food and Drug Administration and the pharmaceutical industry, concerning the regulation and practice of outsourcing.

The number of clinical-trial investigators overstepping their bounds has grown in the past few years. And, says Congress, the US Food and Drug Administration is taking too long to wrap up unresolved cases.

In an assessment report about medicinal products containing heparin, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA)'s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) said it could not draw firm conclusions about the level of risk associated with unfractionated heparins (UFH) contaminated with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS). Nevertheless, CHMP recommended that contaminated lots be withdrawn completely.

The steering committee of the International Conference on Harmonization and its expert working groups adopted Quality Guideline Q10 "Quality Systems" last week at a meeting in Portland, Oregon.

Also, Pall plans expansion in South America, Anthony Clarke joins Alexza Pharmaceuticals, more...

The US Food and Drug Administration issued a new guidance Monday on indexing structured product labeling. The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research will begin indexing structured product labeling in the product labeling for human drug and biologic products.

The transatlantic cooperation of the European Commission, the European Medicines Agency, and the US Food and Drug Administration was recognized at the Second Meeting of the Transatlantic Economic Council, held mid May in Brussels. The TEC is tasked with overseeing and accelerating government-to-government cooperation to advance economic integration between the United States and the European Union.

The US Food and Drug Administration advised patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals to switch to hydrofluoroalkane-propelled albuterol inhalers now because chlorofluorocarbon-propelled inhalers will not be available in the US after Dec. 31, 2008.