The International Council for Harmonization (ICH) issued a revision of the Q9 guideline that aims to address the shortcomings of the current guideline. The goal of the revision is to provide “more scientific and robust applications of quality risk management principles (QRM)” leading to “fewer quality defects and recalls” and reduced costs for the pharmaceutical industry, according to an ICH business plan .   The ICH Q9(R1) guideline was published on the European Me...

Several industry trade associations are asking for more clarity on the International Council for Harmonisation’s (ICH) Q13 guideline on continuous manufacturing, including what constitutes a state of control for a continuous manufacturing process, the scope of the guideline, and the definition of a batch size. One manufacturer said the guideline places too much emphasis on non-conforming material, which has not been a significant issue in continuous manufacturing.   Th...

An official with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the agency will soon resume unannounced onsite inspections in India and China. Also, prioritized foreign inspections will resume in February.   Elizabeth Miller, assistant commissioner for medical products and tobacco operations in FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), provided this update on the agency’s inspection activities at a 9 December virtual conference on enforcement sponsored by the Fo...

Welcome to the December issue of RF Quarterly which focuses on key takeaways from RAPS Convergence 2021, including patient-focused approaches in regulatory decision making and drug development, the transition from convergence to harmonization for global pharmaceutical regulatory requirements, pediatric drug development, and regulatory and clinical strategies.   Patient perspective and global harmonization There is increasing recognition of the importance of patients...

This article examines the transition from convergence to harmonization for global pharmaceutical regulatory requirements. It outlines the roles of International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) and World Health Organization (WHO) in the implementation of ICH guidances and provides definitions for convergence and harmonization to reflect their distinctive roles. The authors also address ongoing harmonization initiatives, the current degree to which implementation has or has ...

The International Council for Harmonization’s (ICH) Q6B guideline setting acceptance criteria for new biological products needs to be revised to incorporate a more patient-centric approach and to include the science and risk-based concepts embodied in other ICH guidelines, according to a regulator from the EU.   Mats Welin, a senior expert for vaccines and monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) for the Swedish Medical Products Agency, made this assertion at the 30 November webi...

The International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) announced that “significant milestones” were reached over the past year, including the adoption of the widely anticipated guideline on general considerations for clinical studies and the release of question-and-answer guidelines related to the electronic Common Technical Document (eCTD).   Other accomplishments ICH cited in a recent summary of a mid-November virtual meeting include the advancement of a guideline on qu...

A major pharmaceutical industry group is calling for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to institute several revisions to the International Council for Harmonization’s (ICH) Q12 guideline on postapproval changes.   The document was released by FDA for public feedback in May. (RELATED: ICH Q12: FDA guidance explains US implementation, Regulatory Focus , 21 May 2021).   The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) suggested in its 8 Oct...

The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’S) efforts to encourage the industry’s adoption of advanced manufacturing is bearing fruit, according to a new update from the agency, noting robust interest from industry in participating in the agency’s Emerging Technologies Program (ETP).   In addition, “significant funding” from Congress has helped fund more research in advanced manufacturing, wrote Michael Kopcha, director of the Office of Pharmaceutical Quality in the FD...

The International Council for Harmonization (ICH) on Wednesday issued its M7(R2) guideline setting new permitted daily exposure (PDE) limits for seven DNA-reactive substances to limit their carcinogenic risk. The guideline is now available for public comment.   The guideline contains 21 mutagenic impurities, adding seven substances to the 14 previously published in the ICH M7(R1) guideline, which reached Step 4 in June 2017. (RELATED:   FDA Finalizes Guidance on Mut...

The International Council for Harmonization (ICH) recently announced that the E8(R1) guideline on general considerations for clinical studies had reached Step 4 and is awaiting sign-off by regulators. The widely anticipated guideline modernizes the design, conduct and reporting of clinical trials by adopting quality by design principles. The guideline incorporates “current concepts achieving fit-for-purpose data quality.”   ICH announced that “the modernisation of IC...

This article reviews Chinese laws governing healthcare data and genomic resources during 1998-2021 and their impact on clinical research in humans by pharmaceutical companies. Companies conducting such research must be vigilant about complying with the complex legal requirements governing the research and identifying potential risks and mitigation strategies for compliance. The analysis includes review of various legal requirements issued by the People’s Republic of China ...