GMP News

EMA's Question and Answer document on nitrosamine impurities is addressed to marketing authorisation holders. This document describes the approach to review the manufacturing processes for chemically-synthesised and biological medicinal products and to do the risk assessments accordingly. Read more about which new deadlines for variations have to be observed and what has changed in the forms.

Data integrity is still one of the major topics in FDA inspections. Missing controls to ensure the integrity of electronic data as well as inadequate access controls were some of the reasons why a Warning Letter to American company Vi-Jon was issued.

The US American CGMP Rules 21 CFR 211 also contain requirements concerning training (21 CFR 211.25). An actual warning letter shows the current interpretation of this requirement by the FDA. How does the FDA interpret the chapter "Training" today?

Documentation is an important element in the world of GMP. This applies to protocols as well as recording documents. For the field of development, the FDA is now offering a pilot program for a new function called "Snapshot" for their clinical and development guidelines. What's behind it?

The EMA Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC) published the minutes for the HMPC meeting held in May 2022. The Meeting Protocol contains several interesting developments regarding Cannabis. Will it be possible for regulatory submissions to use the well-established medicinal use pathway in the EU?

The European Pharmacopoeia Commission published the 8th edition of the Technical Guide for the Elaboration of Monographs. The guide helps when drafting monographs and transferring analytical methods into a compendial procedure. The previous version of the guide dated back to 2015.

In the Pharmacopeial Forum, PF 48(4), a new version of USP Chapter <1094> Capsules—Dissolution Testing And Related Quality Attributes was published. Based on comments received on the version of the chapter official as of December 1, 2020, several revisions are proposed.

Despite being forbidden as food additive titanium dioxide may still be used provisionally in medicinal products. But the EMA appeals to the pharmaceutical companies to seek intensively for alternative excipients and has published a new questions and answers document to provide assistance. Read here what marketing authorisation holders and applicants have to observe when replacing titanium dioxide or developing new formulations for medicinal products with alternative excipients.

Following the previously announced elaboration of a new USP chapter <1568> Quality Considerations for Cannabis and Cannabis-derived Products for Clinical Research the input deadline has been extended.

The Swissmedic website for authorization of herbal medicinal products (HMPs) has been completely revised and updated. It provides information on simplified authorization procedures for HMPs, e.g. for "HMPs with known active substance".

In June 2022, the U.S. FDA issued a Warning Letter tto the Dutch company "Fagron Group B.V." after having inspected their US American site "Fagron Inc." in November 2021.