This article discusses pediatric drug development in the EU and US, with an emphasis on overcoming regulatory obstacles. The authors present the commonalities and differences between US and EU regulations and guidelines and examine the legislative acts and subsequent regulatory requirements, while outlining the necessary steps for successful implementation of pediatric drug clinical trials. They conclude with a discussion of three case studies that highlight strategic init...

Pediatric oncology patients continue to have significant unmet medical need. Although the Pediatric Research Equity Act (PREA) mandated evaluation of new drugs for pediatric patients, the rarity and uniquity of pediatric cancers allowed for waivers or exemptions from PREA requirements. The passing of FDA Reauthorization Act amendments in 2017 included the Research Acceleration for Cure and Equity Act, which expands the scope of oncology products subject to PREA. Sponsors d...

The US and EU require sponsors to evaluate their drugs for use in children. The low prevalence of many conditions in children means sponsors commonly want to conduct one pediatric development program that satisfies the requirements of both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA). However, multiregional pediatric development is challenging. This article will describe some of the challenges associated with pediatric development, offer po...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that trading partners use the semi-distributed model to trace drug products though the drug distribution chain because of this model’s flexibility and advantages over other data architecture models. The Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) requires that trading partners have these systems in place by November 2023.   Connie Jung, acting associate director for policy and compliance in FDA’s Office of Drug Security, ...

Data integrity remediation is a critical activity performed by analytical laboratories, quality control laboratories, and manufacturing plants to comply with good manufacturing practice (GMP) and data integrity requirements. There are various challenges during this activity, and current GMP (cGMP) facilities struggle to comply due to technical limitations and resource constraints. This article examines the data integrity remediation challenges faced by cGMP facilities and ...

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...

A new drug development model released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates a Medicare drug pricing bill like the one proposed by Democrats in the US House of Representatives could result in between 21 and 59 fewer drugs brought to market over the next three decades.   The Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act ( H.R. 3 ), introduced in the 116th Congress during the 2019-2020 legislative session, would require the Secretary of Health and Human Servi...

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...