Drug Development

In an interview earlier this year (Bio-IT World, April 2003), Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), stated that "The original intent of the rule (21 CFR Part 11) was to facilitate the introduction of electronic technology to the process of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) submissions, as well as manufacturing and production. Part 11 was created to provide common-sense guidelines on how to do in the electronic world what was previously done on paper. During the last 5 years, however, confusion regarding what is included in the regulation and how to enforce it was impeding the introduction of new technology. The rule had created exactly the opposite of what was intended."

European expert opinions regarding pharmaceutical process validation were collected and studied by performing an Internet Delphi survey. In total, 36 experts from 10 countries representing the pharmaceutical fields of industry, regulation and academia participated in the survey. The overall attitude to process validation appeared to be positive; however, a number of concerns were raised. More education, better use of prioritizing tools and increased evidence of cost-effectiveness is needed to further develop and facilitate process validation.

In December 2002, FDA notified DMV International that its pharmaceutical lactose manufacturing facility in The Netherlands had passed inspection. It was only 3 years earlier that DMV had started an ambitious programme to implement cGMP for API production conforming with ICH Q7A guidelines.

New research has led to significant advances in formulations and inhalation systems for pulmonary delivery.

The authors investigated the moisture gain of products containing ethambutol that were packaged in strip and blister packs as well as unpackaged formulations.

Good laboratory practice (GLP) regulations became effective in 1979 under 21 CFR Part 58 and apply to all non-clinical safety studies intended to support research permits or marketing authorizations. This article introduces some key elements regarding the application of GLP regulations as a quality system and how GLPs are perceived internationally.

This article examines the application of 21 CFR Part 11 to those areas of research and development (R&D) where compliance is not strictly required and the response of R&D equipment vendors to the rule's requirements and customer needs. The case is presented that vendors must accept that understanding and meeting Part 11 requirements is now part of their business environment.

This article describes a method for assessing the similarity of dissolution profiles using Hotelling's T2 statistic. The method applies a covariance structure that accounts for the heterogeneity of variance and correlation across time points. Comparing the method with the f2 criterion recommended in FDA's guidance on dissolution testing, the performance of the two methods was assessed on real examples, and simulation studies were also done to compare the method's performance with that of the f2 criterion.

Transdermal drug delivery, a vital technology of increasing interest, offers such benefits as controlled delivery for as long as a week and improved patient convenience and compliance.

Regular update from Washington.

On 20 February 2003, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a new draft guidance relating to 21 CFR Part 11. The new guidance mainly affects the compliance requirements of systems with a low risk and low impact on product quality; however, systems with a high risk and high impact on product quality, such as chromatography data systems or laboratory information management systems (LIMS), remain unaffected, as this article describes.

The US Food and Drug Administration is making changes in inspection processes, post-approval manufacturing changes and 21 CFR Part 11 policies to streamline oversight and improve product quality.

During autumn 2001, a Delphi survey was conducted using the Internet to discover the opinions of European experts from the pharmaceutical fields of industry, regulation and academia regarding pharmaceutical process validation. The Internet Delphi method was found to be an appropriate tool for exploring the opinions and experiences of pharmaceutical manufacturing because it allowed anonymous participation and discussion between geographically dispersed parties. However, to obtain reliable results, many factors were taken into account, as this article examines.

Oral dosage forms are the most popular way of taking medication, despite having some disadvantages compared with other methods. One such disadvantage is the risk of slow absorption of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), which can be overcome by administering the drug in liquid form and, therefore, possibly allowing the use of a lower dosage.

The pressure on the pharmaceutical industry to manufacture products faster and more cost-effectively has never been greater. Additionally, companies must also meet stringent regulations set by authorities such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA). This article explores the importance of complying with regulations and validation, how to maintain compliance and looks at some of the consequences of non-compliance.

As parenteral drug delivery becomes more complex and sophisticated, excipients that can facilitate drug (or gene) delivery to specific therapeutic targets will be required. An overwhelming majority of these excipients are derived from natural sources.

As the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) strives to streamline its regulatory process for bringing new drugs to market (see sidebar "Manufacturing data key to spurring drug development"), efforts to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of dietary supplements and herbal medicines are gaining more attention.

The tabletting properties of a new coprocessed excipient for direct compression were compared with a physical mixture of its components (separately and with drugs) and the individual constituents. The compaction properties were also investigated. Results indicated that the new excipient has excellent flow properties and demonstrates enhanced compressibility.

Interest in more advanced drug delivery systems has increased, with an acceleration in the discovery and development of novel therapeutic macromolecules for targeted applications. Computational fluid dynamics is a design tool that allows producers of these and other products to evaluate different models rapidly and cost-effectively.

Non-toxic and biodegradeable, biologically active liposomes encapsulate therapeutics to provide an attractive drug delivery system for the future.

Progress in developing AIDS vaccines is focussing attention on the challenges involved in producing millions of doses for developing nations.

Brussels report

It has been demonstrated that the existing FDA dose content uniformity test has very poor statistical relevance, which has resulted in the acceptance of poor quality batches and the rejection of good quality batches. By using Bayesian Inference, a much improved test has been produced that allows the quality of a batch of drug product to be determined accurately, using a suitable number of samples for the quality of the batch.

Medicines and excipients are inseparable, with few exceptions - one cannot exist without the other. The Pharmaceutical Quality Group and other international bodies have developed good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards and guidelines to facilitate the effective supply of excipients. This article discusses the definition and significance of excipients, and highlights the importance of implementing the correct excipient manufacturing controls and standards.

The security of documents in the pharmaceutical industry has become a critical issue since the advent of electronic data transfer. Companies in Europe must comply with 21 CFR Part 11 if they sell in the US. The regulations also require that secure, computer-generated, time-stamped audit trails are used to record the date and time of operator entries and actions that create, modify or delete electronic records. In particular, the record change must not obscure previously recorded information.