GMP News - Pharmaceutical Technology

A US-American pharmaceutical manufacturer of OTC solutions and suppositories has received a Warning Letter from the US-American FDA due to non-executed repairs and deficiencies in cleaning and laboratory testing.

The new chapter 5.17.2 in the European Pharmacopoeia "Recommendations on testing of particulate contamination: visible particles" was already published for comment in autumn 2018 (Pharmeuropa 30.4). The comments and feedback received have been considered by the Expert Group 12 of the EDQM, and the chapter is coming into force.

 The nickel plating of surfaces is a good and high-quality method to protect components or surfaces from corrosion. At the same time, the question is repeatedly asked whether components treated in this way may be used in the GMP area. Read more here.

A US-American pharmaceutical manufacturer received a Warning Letter from the FDA in November 2019 due to microbial issues in the water system, deficiencies in qualification/validation and insufficient stability data. Read more here.

Water systems are one of the most important systems in the pharmaceutical industry. What are the GMP requirements for the qualification and running of these systems? The US GMP regulations (21 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) 210/211) do not provide much concrete information on this. There is still a Guide to Inspection for FDA inspectors from the early 90s. So, what does the FDA expect today? A current Warning Letter provides a few answers.

The main material used in plant engineering is stainless steel. The variant 316L is regarded as standard; material incompatibilities of steel with the product play almost no role. This is different for plastics. Beside the leach-out, ageing and surface finishing, other quality features are often specified. Now, what are the general requirements for plastics in pharmaceutical plant engineering?