The final version of Ph. Eur. 2.8.2 Foreign Matter in herbal drugs has been published in Ph. Eur. 11.1. The revised chapter clarifies that the quantitative limits for foreign matter only apply to foreign organs and foreign elements; other foreign elements should, as far as possible, be absent.
A proposed monograph for Cannabis Species Inflorescence has been published in the USP Herbal Medicines Compendium (HMC). It is open for public comments for 90 days.
In September 2022, the documents "IRIS guide for applicants" and "IRIS guide to registration and RPIs" were updated again - now containing some innovations and revisions.
Following the recently introduced new Ph. Eur. chapter 5.26 Implementation of pharmacopoeial procedures, the EDQM published some examples to provide users with practical guidance. How can the critical factors potentially affecting the analytical procedure performance be identified?
USP: Third Instrument Qualification Stimuli published for Comments
As of early September 2022, the Stimuli Document "Analytical Instrument and System (AIS) Qualification: The Qualification Life Cycle Process" has been posted for comments on the USP Pharmacopeial Forum website.
EMA/CHMP: New Active Substance Guideline? Concept Paper published for Comments
Since the end of July, the "Concept paper on the revision of the guideline on the chemistry of active substances" of the CHMP's (Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use) Quality Working Party (QWP) is available for public comments. This document aims to clarify the need to revise and update the guideline "Guideline on the chemistry of active substances (EMA/454576/2016)".
FDA Warning Letter: Lab Data Integrity disregarded
In July 2022, the U.S. FDA issued a Warning Letter to the U.S. American company "Jost Chemical Co." after having inspected its site in January 2022. The Warning Letter mentions the list of cGMP observations for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).
In May, the Chinese National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) published their new Annex 13 "GMP for Investigational Medicinal Products (IMPs)", which was incorporated into the Chinese GMP guidelines on July 01, 2022.
In December 2021, the ECA offered the Live Online Training "China GMP and Registration of APIs". During the Q&A sessions, many interesting questions were posed to the speakers team.
Nitrosamine Impurities: Extension of the Deadline for the Submission of Variations
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.
FDA Warning Letter: No Stability Studies for Reworked Batches
In June 2022, the U.S. FDA issued a Warning Letter (WL) to the Spanish company "Bioiberica, SAU" after having inspected its site in January and February 2022.
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?
New Ph. Eur. Chapter on Implementation of Pharmacopoeial Procedures
Ph. Eur. 11.0 has been published in July 2022. Amongst others, the 11th Edition contains the previously announced new general chapter 5.26. Implementation of Pharmacopoeial Procedures providing a 2-step approach.
New Edition of the Technical Guide for the Elaboration of Ph. Eur. Monographs
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.
New Questions and Answers from the EMA regarding Titanium Dioxide in Medicines
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.