The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a new paper  to help shed light on how therapeutic proteins can be produced safely on a continuous manufacturing line.   Continuous manufacturing “is still a novel concept for therapeutic proteins” and more “tangible” examples are needed to implement the program, acknowledged FDA in the report. Further, there are “few published studies” addressing viral inactivation methods for these products.   However, it’s im...

The International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) on Tuesday issued its Q13 guideline on continuous manufacturing, making a draft available for public comment.   The long-awaited draft was soon expected, according to an FDA official who gave an update on the status of the guideline at a 14 July CMC Strategy Forum sponsored by the California Separation Science Society (CASSS). (RELATED: Long-awaited ICH continuous manufacturing guideline coming soon , Regulatory Foc...

The International Council for Harmonization (ICH) Q13 guideline on continuous manufacturing is expected to be released for public comment soon, as the US pharmaceutical industry continues slow but steady adoption of this mode of manufacturing.   Cyrus Agarabi, a reviewer in FDA’s Office of Biotechnology Products in the Office of Pharmaceutical Quality, updated attendees on the status of the ICH Q13 guideline at the 14 July CMC Strategy Forum sponsored by the California...

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on 1 July released for public consultation two draft guidelines to help sponsors of investigational medicinal products (IMPs) for new drugs and biologics decide whether manufacturing changes are considered a “substantial modification” needing prior approval.   These guidelines are connected to the EU regulation No. 536/2014 which came into force on 20 June 2014. The regulation defines a “substantial modification” as any change to a...

New drug shortages in the US decreased in 2020, in part because of the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) use of enforcement discretion to ensure an uninterrupted supply of critical medical products during the COVID-19 public health crisis.   Yet, the agency’s new drug shortages report to Congress said that while these actions helped avert shortages in the short-term, more work is needed to improve supply chain resiliency.   This report summarizes the agency...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday issued a final guidance to assist manufacturers of biological products in determining which types of changes to their products should be submitted in an annual report and which will require a prior approval supplement, the highest reporting category.   The guidance contains minor changes from a draft issued in December 2017; no reporting changes were switched from the minor to major category. Licensed biological produ...

Members of the US House of Representatives lambasted officials of Emergent BioSolutions for ignoring serious potential contamination and cleanliness problems at their facility, causing millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses to be thrown out.   The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, chaired by Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) along with the House Committee on Oversight and Reform heard testimony from Robert Kramer, president and chief executive officer of Emerge...

Officials from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urged Emergent BioSolutions to stop producing vaccines until it corrects a litany of unsafe practices at the plant which compromised the quality of products. These problems were identified following a recent inspection of the plant’s facility in Baltimore.   The company was contracted by Johnson & Johnson to manufacture its COVID-19 vaccine but had to throw out 15 million doses recently due to a mix-up of ingredi...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 13 April warned South American active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturer Proquimes SA Productos Quimicos Especializados SA for a multitude of good manufacturing practice (GMP) violations. The letter joins three others the agency has issued since the beginning of the year that are based solely on a records review and not onsite inspections.   The warning letters signal the agency’s increasing reliance on a review of...

This article provides an overview for writing up the biological drug substance manufacturing process and process controls. The authors provide an example for the manufacturing of biological drugs consisting of a cytokine. They cover several complex manufacturing steps and details expected to be included in Section 3.2.S.2.2 (Description of Manufacturing Process and Process Controls) of the Common Technical Document (CTD) for the Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Us...

This article reviews important steps in the manufacture of biologics. The authors provide planning steps for compliance with current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) to readiness for chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC). They pose important questions manufacturers should address, from facility issues to working with a contract development manufacturing organization. They conclude that trends toward reducing the time to market put considerable stress on all aspect...

As drug and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing moves overseas to cut costs, quality and reliability concerns have been raised and the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health met Wednesday to discuss the supply chain with one of the US Food and Drug Administration’s top officials and other experts. Janet Woodcock, director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, explained how part of the problem is that FDA does not know the...