GMP NEWS 2021

In October and November, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) once more published on its website the updated and revised version of the "Questions & Answers (Q&A)" document related to questions prior to and during the submission of a centralised procedure.

As international travel restrictions remain in place, the TGA's GMP remote inspection programme will continue. This means remote inspections remain the only available option for certification applications during the pandemic.

EMA´s HMPC adopted the revised Guidelines on Quality and Specifications for herbal substances, herbal preparations and herbal medicinal products. Will a written GACP declaration for the herbal substance now become a requirement? 

In light of ongoing difficulties to conduct on-site GDP inspections due to restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, GDP certificates and time-limited wholesale authorisations for sites in the European Economic Area (EEA) are automatically extended until the end of 2022.

Only recently, we reported that in fiscal years 2019 and 2020, deficiencies in the stability programme in the area of "drugs" were mentioned in numerous FDA 483 forms. The FDA has now published the data for the fiscal year 2021. About a fifth of the 483s revolve around the issue of stability.

We recently reported that the Japanese Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) had published four Japanese Pharmacopoeia (JP) drafts of General Tests and General Information related to Chromatography. The agency has now released a slightly modified version of the draft of new General Test “<2.00> Chromatography”. Comments can be submitted until November 30, 2021.

The Dosage Forms Expert Committee intends to revise USP General Chapter <711> Dissolution.

The EDQM has announced in a press release that the harmonised general chapter Chromatography was signed-off by the Pharmacopoeial Discussion Group (PDG), which brings together Ph. Eur., JP and USP.

To support voluntary submissions of medicinal product information for medicinal products supplied in the EU / EEA via parallel importation, or for emergency and compassionate use, new 'Legal basis' values will be made available in the "Article 57 database" (xEVMPD).