Regulatory/GMP Compliance

FDA's newly launched risk-based approach to GMP regulation spurs signficant changes in the agency's approach to inspection processes, postapproval changes, and 21 CFR Part 11 enforcement.

The US Food and Drug Administration is making changes in inspection processes, post-approval manufacturing changes and 21 CFR Part 11 policies to streamline oversight and improve product quality.

During autumn 2001, a Delphi survey was conducted using the Internet to discover the opinions of European experts from the pharmaceutical fields of industry, regulation and academia regarding pharmaceutical process validation. The Internet Delphi method was found to be an appropriate tool for exploring the opinions and experiences of pharmaceutical manufacturing because it allowed anonymous participation and discussion between geographically dispersed parties. However, to obtain reliable results, many factors were taken into account, as this article examines.

The pressure on the pharmaceutical industry to manufacture products faster and more cost-effectively has never been greater. Additionally, companies must also meet stringent regulations set by authorities such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA). This article explores the importance of complying with regulations and validation, how to maintain compliance and looks at some of the consequences of non-compliance.

As the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) strives to streamline its regulatory process for bringing new drugs to market (see sidebar "Manufacturing data key to spurring drug development"), efforts to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of dietary supplements and herbal medicines are gaining more attention.

Brussels report

Analytical methods development and validation play important roles in the discovery, development, and manufacture of pharmaceuticals. The official test methods that result from these processes are used by quality control laboratories to ensure the identity, purity, potency, and performance of drug products.

Progress in developing AIDS vaccines is focussing attention on the challenges involved in producing millions of doses for developing nations.

Bridging the gap between compliant spreadsheet production and limitations in available technology can be achieved by the use of custom-created electronic solutions.

It has been demonstrated that the existing FDA dose content uniformity test has very poor statistical relevance, which has resulted in the acceptance of poor quality batches and the rejection of good quality batches. By using Bayesian Inference, a much improved test has been produced that allows the quality of a batch of drug product to be determined accurately, using a suitable number of samples for the quality of the batch.

Calibration management systems can lead to cost-effective global compliance when coupled with advances in information technology.

An all-electronic validation can provide storage costs savings and ensured document legibility.

The security of documents in the pharmaceutical industry has become a critical issue since the advent of electronic data transfer. Companies in Europe must comply with 21 CFR Part 11 if they sell in the US. The regulations also require that secure, computer-generated, time-stamped audit trails are used to record the date and time of operator entries and actions that create, modify or delete electronic records. In particular, the record change must not obscure previously recorded information.

FDA is set to revise CGMPs to encourage new manufacturing technologies and develop improved agency policies to ensure drug quality and safety.

Part II of this article describes the installation, operational, and performance qualification of an autoclave and discusses a system for change control.

The benefits of using computers and electronic records are proven in most fields of modern-day work, none more so than in laboratories. The opportunities for automation have improved productivity; the computational abilities have increased the accuracy of scientific data and allowed previously difficult or impossible analytical techniques to become routine affairs. This, in turn, has led to huge advances in drug discovery and in the chemical, biochemical and physical analysis of drugs and patients.

A limit test using ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) has the potential to dramatically reduce the time required for cleaning verification and cleaning method development. The traditional approach to cleaning verification, often using HPLC, is relatively resource intensive and can lead to significant delays in reporting results. The main advantage of IMS is that results are seen virtually instantaneously, so any necessary re-measurement can be done very quickly. If the results demonstrate cleanliness, production can resume in a matter of hours not days.

Part I of this article discusses examples for cycle types used in moist heat sterilization, parameter requirements for a standard cycle as defined by pharmacopeias, methods used to design sterilization cycles, and various approaches used to measure the efficiency of the sterilization process.

Following a step-by-step approach to software development involves planning, analysis, construction, and implementation.

A new set of proposed GMP standards for excipents may present more problems than benefits.

FDA cites manufacturing difficulties as a main contributing factor to recent drug shortages, which mainly involve injectibles and vaccines.

This study investigated the effectiveness of the direct extraction of tablets and shaking time on the disintegration of tablets, solubilization, and recovery of ibuprofen from tablets of various formulations, strengths, and spiked placebo.

Participants at a Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America workshop share their views about the acceptable analytical practices of conducting forced degradation studies.

Batch SCADA systems are assessed for regulatory compliance and functionality.

The authors forecast how the current industry events and trends will affect computer validation in the future.

Current events and trends in regulations, business practices, and technology forecast the future of computer validation.