GMP News - APIs and Excipients

New and revised guidance documents and materials related to ePI (electronic Product Information) are now available on the EMA website under the heading "What's New in PLM?" in the PLM Portal (Product Lifecycle Management Portal).

In the beginning of September, the stimuli document "Proposed Definitions of Excipient Components- Revisions to 2018 Definitions- PF 49(5)" was published for comment on the website of the Pharmacopeial Forum of the USP. Comments on this draft can be submitted until 30 November 2023.

Once again, the "Frequently asked questions about parallel distribution" have been revised and published on the EMA website. The information provided by the EMA on parallel distribution of centrally authorised medicinal products is set out in the Q&A in six paragraphs.

In recent months, the awareness for the impurities diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG) in pharmaceutical products was increased due to several FDA Warning Letters. We have reported on different examples where manufacturers failed to conduct proper identity testing of glycerin and other high-risk components. Now two more Warning Letters have been published, which also deal with this issue.

The latest valid version of the USP chapter "Balances <41>" has been substantially revised and is now posted for comment on the USP Pharmacopeial Forum website. This revision follows updates to the USP chapter "Weighing on an Analytical Balance <1251>" and the general chapter "Balances" of the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.). Comments on this draft can be submitted until 30 November 2023.

A recently issued USP stimuli article describes advances in product quality and performance tests for topical and transdermal delivery systems (TDS). In particular, the article focuses on physicochemical and structural characterization tests for semisolid drug products.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a draft working document entitled WHO Biowaiver Project - Prioritization exercise of active pharmaceutical ingredients for cycle VI (2024) and preliminary results from cycle V (2023). The deadline for submitting comments is 10 September 2023.