Quality & Compliance
Mitigating Compliance Risk with Your Quality Management System
In the first blog of this three-part series, "Overlooking Your QMS Could Cost You," we discussed the cost of "good" versus "poor" quality, and the importance of investing in a "good" Quality...
How Data Integrity Supports a Smooth Transition to Pharma 4.0
The coming pharmaceutical industrial revolution, Pharma 4.0, is an implementation of new systems into the various manufacturing processes leading to an automated production. Introduction of these...
Quality & Compliance
Top Tips for a Successful Virtual Audit
The COVID-19 pandemic forced countless companies to change the way they do business in order to continue operating while protecting employees and upholding their social responsibility to the...
Quality & Compliance
Embracing Risk Management Principles: As Easy as One, Two, Three
In the pharmaceutical industry today, there are strict guidelines to adhere to throughout the product lifecycle. Some of them, like risk management, seem more complex and harder to adhere to than...
Quality & Compliance
FDA: CGMP Consultant Recommendation
Reflecting on my interactions with FDA I have come to understand that inspectors do not routinely offer recommendations to firms, when an inspector does provide an opinion it is often prefaced with a...
Quality & Compliance
Gene and Cellular Therapies: Five Keys to Regulatory Success
We are living through a medical revolution. Advances in gene therapy, cell‑based therapies and tissue engineering offer real hope for patients with a range of debilitating diseases. The FDA, EMA and...
Why the FDA Should Never Be Your First Inspection
You can expect several FDA audits throughout your drug development program The Agency’s goal is to protect the public from unsafe products, and one of the best ways to accomplish that goal is by...
Quality & Compliance
FDA's Top 483 Observations for 2018: A Reflection of Industry’s Compliance
At the beginning of each federal fiscal year, the US FDA posts the previous year's Form 483 observation metrics issued by each product center. Inspections ending between 10/1/2017 and 9/30/2018, for...
Quality & Compliance
Assumed Brexit & Batch Control Testing Site In the UK
The currently scheduled transition date in the Brexit process, 30 March 2019, is coming very close. In light of this, the European Commission (EC) published on 25 February 2019 a notice on the...
Regulatory Sciences
Outsourcing Functions Doesn't Mean You've Outsourced Compliance Obligations
Over the past 20 years, the traditional approach to drug development has expanded to include the outsourcing of a range of testing and manufacturing functions. As a part of their long-term strategic...
Regulatory Sciences
Human Subject Protection Regulations: Differences Between HHS’ & FDA’s Clinical Trial Rules
On Friday, October 12th, FDA issued a guidance document entitled “Impact of Certain Provisions of the Revised Common Rule on FDA-Regulated Clinical Investigations.” The document aims to help...
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...
Quality & Compliance
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,...
Quality & Compliance
Summary Considerations: Use of Electronic Records and Electronic Signatures in Clinical Investigations Under 21 CFR Part 11 – Questions and Answers
Here I provide some key summaries and considerations relative to FDA’s draft guidance that was submitted for review and comment in June 2017. If you don’t want to review the entire guidance, here are...
Quality & Compliance
Using a Matrix Approach to Media Fills in Sterile Compounding
A survey of FDA Form 483 observations issued to the 503B pharmacy industry reveals that outsourcing compounders are struggling to implement and manage compliant and risk-based approaches to aseptic...
Quality & Compliance
What Should Be on Your Clinical Trial Investigator Site Audit Checklist?
You live and operate in a regulated industry. Obviously, it’s crucial that you stay in compliance during your clinical trials. That’s because failure to do so has enormous and expensive consequences....