The current state of drug shortages in the supply chain is under continued pressure, both outside of and within the U.S. According to the FDA, there are currently 105 products in shortage in the U.S. (here) as of the drafting of this blog. Not only are the shortages continuing, but adherence to section 506C of the […]
It’s fascinating to see the evolution and potential future of visual inspection in the pharmaceutical industry. The shift from manual methods to cutting-edge automated systems with artificial intelligence has significantly improved efficiency, accuracy, and reliability in product inspections. By leveraging AI technology in visual inspections, pharmaceutical companies can benefit from enhanced defect detection capabilities, greater […]
A May 28, 2024 review article by Skylar Jeremias titled, “New Evidence Confirms Safe Biosimilar-to-Biosimilar Switching” (here), supports the fact that switching between biologics and biosimilars or from one biosimilar to another does not present a problem. The article states “[S]ince the July 2022 publication of the first systematic review of biosimilar-to-biosimilar switching, the European […]
As one would expect from a consulting service that focuses primarily on the Regulatory and Compliance sectors, the Lachman Blog has not historically focused on issues that are primarily economic in nature, unless the discussion is related to drug shortages. When searching our blog archive, I only found a single reference to the issue that […]
At the Center for Drug Evaluation & Research (CDER) Small Business Industry Assistance (SBIA) meeting held on April 25th, titled “Facilitating Generic Product Availability Through Product-Specific Guidances (PSGs) for 2024,” the FDA presented some updates regarding the FDA Dissolution Database. Dr. Leah Falade, Senior Pharmacologist in the Office of Pharmaceutical Quality, CDER, was the presenter in Session 6. […]
Container Closure Integrity (CCI) testing is a central aspect of contamination control for a product. Contamination control strategy begins with the design, qualification, and validation of a facility, equipment, and processes. Product containers and closures are a crucial element of contamination control. Package integrity is the ability of the package to prevent loss, maintain sterility, […]
Today, the FDA has published a new draft guidance titled Content and Format of Composition Statement and Corresponding Statement of Ingredients in Labeling in NDAs and ANDA (here) that describes the FDA’s current thinking on consistency of composition statements in NDAs and ANDAs. It provides a clear and unambiguous requirement to list both the qualitative […]
It’s not the big things that you need to worry about; it’s the little things that will kill you! And nothing is truer than that when it comes to microbial bugs that have become resistant to antibiotic therapy! The rise in “Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)—the ability of a microorganism (bacteria, virus, fungi, parasite) to resist the […]
Today, the FDA published a Product Specific Guidance (PSG) with recommendations for establishing bioequivalence of oxymetazoline hydrochloride ophthalmic solution (here). As we have all recognized through the publication of numerous other PGSs over the last five years, the Agency is moving to BE waivers to establish sameness of the product as well as meet the […]
The number of reserve samples required by current regulations has been a sore subject for both NDA and ANDA sponsors as well as testing facilities as the cost and storage requirements for the required reserve samples of both test and reference product was overly burdensome. Now, after twenty years of concern expressed by the industry, […]
