GMP News - Regulatory Affairs

The EMA published the final reflection paper on "Similarity". The paper shows how statistics should be used in drug development when a comparative assessment of quality attributes (QAs) needs to be made for pre- and post-manufacturing changes, biosimilar development as well as generics´ development.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has purchased different products intended for sexual enhancement and weight loss offered for sale on amazon's website. In subsequent laboratory analysis, it was determined that all tested products contain undeclared and potentially harmful drug ingredients. In a letter dated July 26, 2021, sent to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, the FDA requires Amazon to take measures to prevent such violations in the future.

In a letter sent directly to Janet Woodcock, FDA, the Congress of the United States expresses its concerns about a backlog of pharmaceutical manufacturing facility inspections and human drug applications.

The EMA has published two draft guidelines on the quality requirements for IMPs (small and large molecules). According to the Agency, the documents are to be seen in connection with the Clinical Trials Regulation (EU) No. 536/2014 which is expected to become applicable in January 2022.

In a recently published ruling, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided that a medicinal product not subject to medical prescription in one Member State may not automatically be placed on the market in another Member State. Rather, the medicinal product may only be placed on the market in a Member State if the competent authority of that Member State or the EU Commission has granted its marketing authorisation.

Marketing authorisation holders in Europe must evaluate their chemically synthesised or biological medicinal products with regard to nitrosamine impurities and, if necessary, carry out confirmatory testing. Detection of nitrosamines has to be reported. Read more here about which templates must be used for reporting nitrosamine impurities.

Parallel distribution is defined as the distribution of a centrally authorised medicinal product from one Member State to another by a pharmaceutical company independent of the marketing-authorisation holder. In this context, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recently published a new comprehensive Q&A document containing answers to the most common questions.