GMP NEWS 2021

Deviations and CAPA are still important issues during inspections. Inspectors' summaries of their observations show that things do not always work as they should. This also applies to root cause investigations.

Data integrity issues continue to be a focus of FDA inspections. Significant problems with data proving the safety, efficacy and quality of manufactured medicinal products were among the reasons for the Warning Letter to the Chinese company BBC Group Limited.

Due to the Corona pandemic, there were supply shortages of medical device products in the USA. To get these shortages under control in the future, the FDA gets expanded power. What is planned?

End of July 2022, the ICH (International Council for Harmonisation) published the draft guideline on continuous manufacturing, which had been awaited for two years. In addition to batch definitions, the document describes three different continuous manufacturing approaches and provides guidance on control strategy and approval issues.

In May 2021, the U.S. FDA issued a Warning Letter to a Turkish over-the-counter (OTC) drug manufacturer called "Gulsah Uretim Kozmetik Sanayi Anonim Sirketi" due to significant violations of cGMP regulations for drug products.

The competent authority of Germany has entered a new GPD Non-Compliance Report dated 21 July 2021 into the EudraGMDP database due to critical violations of GDP requirements. One of the reasons is that the Responsible Person (RP) does not fulfil the responsibilities personally and is not continuously contactable.

In October 2020, the ECA Academy offered the Live Online Training "The GDP Compliance Manager". During the Q&A sessions, many interesting questions were posed to the speakers' team. The European GDP Association has answered these questions and combined them in a Q&A document.

Scientific advice and recommendations from regulatory authorities are usually of great benefit for specific medicines in the development phase. The principles for this have recently been updated by the U.S. and European regulatory authorities. Read here how parallel scientific advice from the EMA and the FDA works and what benefits it brings to the approval process.

As part of inspections the authorities also check computerised systems. Klaus Feuerhelm, former inspector at the Regierungspräsidium Tübingen, has created a TOP 3 list of the most frequent complaints for 2020. TOP 2 of the list - system descriptions. What were the deficiencies found here?