GMP NEWS 2023

Is it acceptable that storage conditions are not monitored for medicinal products which do not have any predefined storage conditions on the outer packaging? This is one of three new questions answered by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on its website. The other two questions relate to the activities of brokers with parties outside the EEA.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a Warning Letter to a drug repackaging and relabeling facility located in Pennsylvania. The document summarizes significant deviations from current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). It also addresses Good Distribution Practice (GDP) aspects.

If the outcome of an inspection is that the wholesale distributor does not comply with Good Distribution Practice (GDP), a statement of non-compliance may be entered into EudraGMDP. We have prepared an overview of the GDP Non-Compliance Reports published in 2022 and the respective reasons for issuing these reports.

Already in 2018, the ICH had started working on a Guideline entitled "CONTINUOUS MANUFACTURING OF DRUG SUBSTANCES AND DRUG PRODUCTS - Q13". A draft was published in mid-2021. Now ICH has approved the final version.

The EMA published an updated Q&A document regarding the new ICH M10 guideline on Bioanalytical Method Validation and Study Sample Analysis. The document became effective on 21 January 2023.

Australia´s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), which regulates Medicinal Cannabis in Australia, has put out its latest Compilation regarding the production and import regulations (TGO 93). As of July 2023, all imported medicinal cannabis products released for supply in Australia will have to present evidence to be produced under GMP.

The Q&A document "Questions and answers for marketing authorisation holders/applicants on the CHMP Opinion for the Article 5(3) of Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 referral on nitrosamine impurities in human medicinal products", which was jointly prepared by the EMA and the CMDh, has been updated and the latest version published on the EMA website.

The "IRIS guide to registration and RPIs" was updated again between the end of November and mid-December 2022. The "IRIS guide for applicants" has also been revised and is now valid as version 2.13. The latest versions of both documents are available on the EMA website.

In December 2022, the "Questions & Answers (Q&A)" documents relating to centralised marketing authorisation procedures were again revised and published on the website of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The Q&A catalogues, which can be used by marketing authorisation holders and applicants of centralised procedures, provide answers to possible questions at the different stages of the centralised marketing authorisation application process.