June 6th 2025
ICH Q6B provides expectations and a clear framework for the structural characterization of biopharmaceutical products.
Evaluating Impurities in Drugs (Part III of III)
April 2nd 2012In Part III of a three-part article, the authors examine various degradation routes of APIs, impurities arising from interactions in formulations, metabolite impurities, various analytical methods to measure impuritie, and ways to control impurities.
Genotoxic Impurities: A Q&A with Amgen's Bo Shen
March 2nd 2012Genotoxic impurities and how to identify them and control for them have been a concern for several years in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. Pharmaceutical Technology spoke with Bo Shen, PhD, principal scientist at Amgen and chair of the AAPS Pharmaceutical Trace Impurities Focus Group, to gain insight on key challenges.
Evaluating Impurities in Drugs (Part I of III)
In Part I of a three-part article, the authors discuss what constitutes an impurity and the potential sources of impurities in APIs and finished drug products.
Moving from a Reactive to a Systemic Approach to Manage Risk
December 21st 2011Risk assessment is not a new concept to the pharmaceutical industry, but lately the phrase has become a mantra. A systemic, science-based way to manage risk is becoming essential to meeting the spirit and letter of FDA requirements.
FDA Notifies Genentech of Violations at Avastin Plant
November 10th 2011On Sept. 27, 2011, FDA sent Genentech a Form 483 listing several violations at the company's South San Francisco, California, plant. The violations included problems with investigations into batch failures, inappropriate equipment design, and insufficient protection against contamination. FDA visited the plant, which produces the cancer drug Avastin, 13 times in September 2011 and made four observations.