New Chapter in the European Pharmacopoeia on Multivariate Statistical Process Control
In our News dated 19.08.19, we had mentioned the draft of a new Ph. Eur. chapter (5.28) regarding Multivariate Statistical Process Control. This chapter has now been adopted and will be published in the October 2020 issue.
In order to be able to continue to provide the population with high-quality, effective and safe medicinal products during the Covid-19 pandemic, Europe is taking exceptional measures. A Q&A document has been prepared in cooperation between the European Commission, the Coordination Group on Mutually Recognised and Decentralised Procedures (CMDh), the Inspectors Working Group and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). At the end of May, special features for process validation (question 6.2) were added under the heading "GMP Flexibilites".
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a Warning Letter to a US-based drug maker for significant violations of current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) regulations for finished pharmaceuticals, including the failure to investigate out-of-specification (OOS) test results and to follow proper documentation practices.
EMA clarifies Computer Validation and Data Integrity responsibilities in Clinical Trials
The EMA recently published a notice to sponsors which clarifies the responsibilities in regard to the qualification and validation of computer systems and data Integrity in clinical trials.
Audit Trail in the Centre of an FDA Warning Letter
The modification and deletion of electronic data must be documented by an audit trail. A missing audit trail led to a Warning Letter to the Indian company Shriram Institute for Industrial Research.
Remote Access to Critical GxP Systems by Service Providers
The topic data integrity raises a multitude of questions. Current questions are addressed in a loose sequence of News. Question 8: Must there be regulations for remote access by service providers to GxP-critical systems and what data integrity requirements must they contain?
In the context of process validation, the FDA attaches considerable importance to a "state of control". The FDA expects evidence of this "state of control" as part of stage 3 "continued process verification" within the validation lifecycle. Now, what exactly does the FDA want to see? Parts of the answer to this question can be found in Warning Letters.
How to handle Legacy Systems if no Audit Trail is available or a "User Login" is not possible?
The topic data integrity raises a multitude of questions. Current questions are addressed in a loose sequence of News. Question 7: How to handle Legacy Systems if no audit trail is available or a "user login" is not possible?
How does the FDA deal with Processes that cannot be validated?
In an interesting Warning Letter, the FDA replies to a letter from a pharmaceutical manufacturer that had received a 483 deficiency report in which the FDA criticized, among other things, deficiencies in process validation. Read more about the correspondence.
Warning Letter for US Manufacturer: Issues in the Water System
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.
Identity Testing and Stability Studies criticised in an FDA Inspection
The first FDA warning letter of the year goes to a Chinese contract manufacturer of over-the-counter (OTC) drug products for multiple violations of current good manufacturing practice (cGMP).
US Manufacturer of homeopathic Medicines and nutritional Supplements receives FDA Warning Letter
From inadequate cleaning to poor laboratory controls of quality and purity - a manufacturer of homeopathics in the U.S. received a Warning Letter from the FDA.
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.
When it comes to process validation, FDA's Process Validation Guidance from 2011 is state-of-the-art. It is interesting to see how the FDA would like to see the guidance implemented. Here, the findings described in Warning Letters issued after FDA inspections can help. A recent Warning Letter regarding deficiencies to 21 CFR 211.100 from October 2019 mentions the following.