Industry Poll: What are the Leading Challenges with GMP Auditing?

In a recent poll conducted by ProPharma Group, the question “What is your biggest GMP auditing challenge?” was posed to Quality professionals in the drug manufacturing industry. The following graph...

Implementing a Risk-Based Supplier Management Program

According to recent FDA updates on the implementation of the Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA), nearly 40 percent of finished drugs are being imported, and nearly 80 percent of active ingredients,...

The Power to See Differences that Matter

Data collection and analysis is expensive and has the potential to compromise a company’s hard-won compliance position. It is therefore critical that technical leaders follow a systematic and proven...

Understanding the New Combination Product PMSR Guidance Documents and Impact on Industry

On March 20, 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released two new guidance documents to help companies comply with the December 20, 2016 final rule establishing postmarketing safety...

MassBio Annual Meeting: Event Highlights

MassBio is a non-profit organization that represents and provides support for the life sciences supercluster in Massachusetts. MassBio is committed to growing the industry, adding value to...

Transformational Leadership: Part II

Last week, I introduced a two-part series on transformation leadership. We defined transformational leadership, explored the concept, and discussed the benefits of adopting this approach. Well, now...

Clinical Research Solutions

Transformational Leadership: Part I

A couple of years ago, an organization asked me to present to their Leadership Team regarding transformational leadership. They wanted to have a better understanding of what makes an organization...

Should Data Integrity Detection be a Part of Routine cGMP Training Programs?

The FDA’s focus on data integrity in recent years has proven that it remains an industry issue. The focus has resulted in significantly increased issuance rates of 483 observations, warning letters,...

FDA’s Most Frequent 483 Observations for 2016: A Reflection of Industry’s Compliance

At the beginning of each year, the US FDA posts the previous year’s Form 483 observation metrics issued by each product center. Image Source: FDA I find that reviewing these metrics provides a...

Phase-Appropriate Development and Application of Quality Systems in the Drug Development Process

Phase-Appropriate Development and Application of Quality Systems in the Drug Development Process: The Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) recently published a revised version of Technical Report No....

Clinical Research Solutions

Understanding the 21st Century Cures Act: Part II

The 21st Century Cures Act, (Passed December 13, 2016), represents three years of cooperation between Congress, the FDA, and industry to modernize the current legal framework within which the FDA...

Understanding the 21st Century Cures Act: Part I

The recent passage of the 21st Century Cures Act (passed December 13, 2016) marks a significant milestone for medical device and drug development. I recently attended a meeting held by the Food and...

PDA Outsourcing / CMO Conference: A Review by Bob Beall

On November 3rd and 4th, I had the opportunity to meet with Pharmaceutical industry experts at the PDA Outsourcing / CMO conference in Washington, DC. It was a fantastic event with representatives...

Clinical Research Solutions

cGMP for Phase 1 Investigational Drugs: Sterile Parenteral Drug Product Manufacturing

As Phase I clinical trials mark the first time that an investigational new drug is administered to humans, these studies are subject to appropriate current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) in...

Understanding Analytical Method Validation

The core of my background was built upon analytical development science for biotechnology companies including Celera and Genentech. It became routine to develop analytical assays to test products...

Top Takeaways from FDA’s Guidance on Data Integrity

For those of you unaware, the FDA submitted a draft guidance on data integrity for comment in April. This is significant in that the last formal written guidance provided from FDA on this subject...