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From Defensible to Predictive: How High-Functioning MLR Teams Are Evolving Their Risk Assessment Approach

For several years, FDA's Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP) maintained a relatively low enforcement profile. For example, between 2022 and 2024, the Agency issued only 14 Untitled and Warning Letters, leading many to view promotional enforcement as relatively predictable and infrequent....

Quality & Compliance

Three Solutions to Typical Autoclave Temperature Mapping Conundrums

Temperature Mapping is an intrinsic part of equipment validation. It evaluates the quality and compliant nature of the equipment to ensure the equipment meets the user and regulatory agency’s...

Understanding Statistical Intervals: Part 2 - Prediction Intervals

Part 1 of this series discussed confidence intervals. Confidence intervals are the best known of the statistical intervals but they only bound regions associated with population parameters; i.e., the...

Quality & Compliance

Personalized Medicine – How Will the Batch Size Change Our Lives?

Hardly a week goes by without the announcement of a new scientific break-through in science and medicine that promises safer, more efficacious and personalized medicine. Where are all these...

Quality & Compliance

Lean CSV – How to Reduce Waste and Increase Value

What is lean? Lean is a business system focused on continuously improving processes by reducing the time taken and the waste involved in delivering increasing value to the customer. Customers in this...

Quality & Compliance

Risk-Based Computer System Validation and Rational Testing

Risk based approaches to validation of computerized systems have been heavily promoted since the publication of GAMP 5 and ASTM E2500. Yet we continue to see examples of validation overkill in the...

Quality & Compliance

Understanding Statistical Intervals Part 1 - Confidence Intervals

Statistical intervals are staples of the quality and validation practitioner’s statistical tool box. Statistical intervals can manifest as plus-or-minus limits on test data, represent a margin of...

Life Cycle Considerations for High Quality and Regulatory Compliant Software

By way of introduction I have developed, implemented, and validated computer/information systems for longer than I care to admit … they were still using punch cards to program room-sized computers...

ISO13485: Understanding the Management Review Metrics Scorecard

As discussed in part one and part two of this series, ISO13485 is a regulatory standard whose focus is meeting customer requirements, including regulatory requirements, and maintaining the...

Wondering Why You Should Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Corporate Compliance Program?

On May 24, 2013, the Department of Justice announced that ISTA Pharmaceuticals Inc., a subsidiary of Bausch+Lomb, pled guilty to felony charges of conspiracy to introduce a misbranded drug into...

Visual Inspection for Cleanliness, What Are We Missing?

As a way to verify that your cleaning or cleaning-in-place (CIP) process was successful, what tool, assay or method should you use first? Well, shouldn’t the answer be as plain as the eyes on your...

ISO13485: Do You Know What Types of Data Should Be Evaluated at Management Review Meetings?

ISO 13485 is a regulatory standard whose focus is meeting customer requirements, including regulatory requirements, and maintaining the effectiveness of the Quality Management System (QMS). Section 5...

Why is CAPA so Important Anyway?

Corrective and preventive action (CAPA) can be viewed differently by employees within pharmaceuticals and medical device companies. Some see CAPAs as simply an onerous task given to them to complete...

Critical Process Parameters and Critical Quality Attributes: Why Does the Selection Process Take so Long?

Quick, can you name the top 10 Critical Process Parameters (CPPs) and Critical Quality Attributes (CQAs) of your bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing process? Well if you hesitated don't feel bad. Most...

ISO13485: The Importance of Management Review

ISO 13485 is a regulatory standard whose focus is meeting customer requirements, including regulatory requirements, and maintaining the effectiveness of the Quality Management System (QMS). Section 5...

A Biotech Cleaning Validation Worst-Case Soil Selection

When conducting cleaning validation studies at large biologics or biotechnology facilities or perhaps even conducting a small cleaning validation study on a non-dedicated piece of equipment in the...

What to Expect During the NDA Review Process

Compiling and submitting a New Drug Application (NDA) submission is a complicated and intensive activity. Once you have submitted your application to FDA, you may be curious about what can you expect...

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Safety Data Exchange Agreements (SDEAs) and Pharmacovigilance Agreements (PVAs) – An Overview

A Safety Data Exchange Agreement (SDEA) or Pharmacovigilance Agreement (PVA) is a legal written contract which ensures that all safety data, PV tasks and responsibilities are detailed between two or...

FDA Shelf Life Extension Program (SLEP)

The FDA’s homepage contains an item in the Public Health Focus section from the Office of Communications entitled “Don’t Use Expired Medicine.” Given this mandate, I recall from many years ago the...

An Overview of the PSMF: Pharmacovigilance System Master File

What is a PSMF? The EU Pharmacovigilance System Master File (PSMF) is a legally required document created and maintained by a Marketing Authorisation Holder (MAH). Essentially, the document is a...

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The Importance of the eCTD Structure for FDA Approval

The Importance of the eCTD To harmonize the process of regulatory reviews for global drug development, a unified structure was developed and implemented for electronic Common Technical Document...

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What is the FSP Model in Clinical Research?

The term Functional Service Provider (FSP) concept is highly regarded in the field of clinical research. With drug discovery and clinical trials becoming more complex, pharmaceutical firms and...