Regulatory Oversight

USP's revised Chapters 41 and 1251, which became official in December 2013, have new requirements for weighing, including balance calibration and testing.

EMA releases an update on its flu vaccine guidance.

EMA and the European Commission revise Q&A document on implementation of marketing authorization guidelines.

In first official visit to India, FDA commissioner to discuss ongoing collaboration on drug programs.

The Food and Drug Administration plans to issue a number of new guidances in 2014 that will address drug development and manufacturing practices.

High technology assessments are having an impact on biosimilars development in Europe.

ISPE and PDA take on the challenge of recommending quality metrics.

Siegfried Schmitt, Principal Consultant, PAREXEL International, discusses how human error can be mitigated in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Non-compliance issues show that users find dealing with computer systems challenging.

Some recent high-profile cases of quality issues at Indian manufacturers have given reason to examine manufacturers more closely.

EMA's guidance focuses on the use of pharmacogenomics to improve drug safety monitoring.

India has a name when it comes to generic drug development. According to a recent research on patent applications carried out by Withers & Rogers, innovation by Indian pharmaceutical companies has increased over the past few years; however, the quality did not match the standard seen in Europe.

FDA adds Ranbaxy's Toansa, India facility to existing consent decree, prohibiting distribution of APIs from that location

Online portal accepts nominations for FDA advisory committee membership.

FDA releases guidance on developing drugs for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia.

EMA has launched a new version of the EudraGMDP database, which includes the publication of statements of non-compliance with good manufacturing practice.

Brazil is the first Latin American country to emerge as a global biopharmaceutical collaborator.

Different approaches for qualification of personnel for visual inspection of residues on equipment surfaces are reviewed.

Kurt Lumden, Director, Client services at PAREXEL's Perceptive Informatics, discusses the management of investigational product temperature excursions.

This article takes a statistical look at the calibration requirements for a UV spectrometer.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries releases a financial outlook for 2014 based on two possible scenarios concerning its multiple-sclerosis drug Copaxone (glatiramer acetate).

Siegfried Schmitt, principal consultant at PAREXEL, discusses the state of drug manufacturing in India.

PIC/S reviews deficiencies found during inspections of API manufacturing facilities, harmonizes GMP standards, and provides training for inspectors worldwide.

Brian Galliher of Cook Pharmica discusses visual inspection systems.

The industry lacks an accepted method for establishing a minimum incubation time (MIT) of less than seven days for biological indicators (BIs). The authors propose an MIT method that provides a means for reproducible determination of BI grow-out time.

Mylan and the Indian biopharmaceutical company Biocon receive approval for a biosimilar version of trastuzumab in India. Also, Mylan and Teva reach settlement on Copaxone in the EU.

European Medicines Agency announces the launch of the Accelerated development of vaccine benefit-risk collaboration in Europe (ADVANCE) project.

An operational-excellence initiative increased collaboration between operations and quality personnel to address human-error-caused deviations.

Includes a new approach on developing antibacterial agents targeted against multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens where patients have very limited or no remaining treatment options.

FDA releases guidance on pulmonary tuberculosis drugs.