The relationship between therapies and genetic composition is incredibly important to the future of medicine, and the way it's manufactured. I sat down to discuss the topic with Dr. Howard Jacob, who's working to improve the drug pipeline at AbbVie using genomics tools.
Because negative news and opinions seem to create greater waves, I thought I would take stock of the positive news that may not have come over your desks or (more realistically) cellphones in the past few weeks. While it’s easy to get bogged down by negative speculation, there’s progress being made and companies and experts fighting daily to keep this industry moving forward, even if it feels glacial.
Back in March, UPS and autonomous drone technology provider Matternet announced they had collectively begun delivering medical samples via unmanned drones at WakeMed’s flagship hospital and campus near Raleigh, N.C.
Though it’s only natural to expect animated scientific discussion between the FDA and USP which have long been partners-in-science, I found myself caught off-guard by just how firmly the FDA has been putting its foot down and making its thoughts known on the role certain standards — in particular, USP monographs — should (or should not play) in biologics development.
In this first of what will be a two-part article, USP's Fouad Atouf highlights the challenges presented by the FDA’s newest guidance while remaining optimistic that the large amount of data recommended today will open doors to more efficient development in the (hopefully) near future.
Despite the importance of the process the FDA is outlining in the guidance, I’ve surprisingly heard little chatter — positive or negative — about what the agency is now outlining and what this may mean for biosimilars and the biosimilar regulatory paradigm moving forward. Here are a couple of the biggest takeaways to note.
Overall, the growth in Asia’s bioprocessing capacity, particularly in China, has been impressive, albeit from a low baseline. Capacity growth over the past five years has been over 20 percent annually. New facility construction and expansions reflect the demand for biologics for domestic consumption, while other facilities are beginning to develop manufacturing strategies for GMP production for major markets, with capacity involving commercial-scale stainless steel and single-use bioreactors.
Virtual pharmaceutical/biotech companies often receive conflicting advice regarding the need to establish an internal cGMP quality system. Either they’re told “you need an extensive set of cGMP SOPs” or “you don’t need any cGMP SOPs at all.” Which advice is correct?
This is Part 1 of a two-part article discussing important areas to consider when developing devices for combination products — and why they need to be addressed early in development.
If the activity happening in state legislatures across the country heralds change at the federal level — and it likely does — pharmaceutical manufacturers ought to buckle their seatbelts.
Delivering cell and gene therapies is an expensive and highly complex process, and there are a number of critical metrics that manufacturers should consider when selecting treatment sites. Subsequent activities — preparing sites to receive and initiate therapy, and managing site training and ongoing certification — can be equally, if not more, challenging.
An FDA inspection is very different than an ISO certification or surveillance audit — too often, organizations “prepare” for scheduled ISO audits by playing catch-up on activities that have been neglected or otherwise overlooked. The catch-up strategy will be problematic for FDA inspections and will generally result in inspectional observations.
We seem to be buried in standard operating procedures (SOPs). So how the heck are companies supposed to make the SOP mountain smaller through harmonization?
As follow-on biologics litigation expands, and the FDA provides additional information on the approval process for follow-on biologics, industry and observers are gaining clarity on how the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) functions in practice. This article provides insight into two recent developments that will impact strategic and economic considerations for biologics developers.
Cell-free synthesis systems are well suited to manufacture at the point of treatment, yet there are several challenges transitioning to this more efficient model for the future of medicine.
This paper delves deeper into aseptic sampling devices to explain how they offer superior performance in the effort to control contamination.
Securing a partner to serve as an extension of Janssen’s Biotherapeutics Development API-Large Molecule team was essential to reduce both risk and the time needed for delivery of clinical supplies.
Develop efficient and robust processes by using Design of Experiments, a method that can uncover complex relationships while saving resources.
Through proper implementation of ICH Q12 tools and enablers, the industry could manage CMC changes effectively under a company’s pharma quality system with less need for oversight prior to implementation.
One of the major challenges in batch mammalian cell clarification is cost-effective improvement in filtration in the face of high cell densities.
Learn how to employ science-, risk-, and statistics-based approaches to cleaning and cleaning validation at your facility with this free, 100-page e-book, written by a global team of cleaning validation experts, pharmaceutical toxicologists, statisticians, and Six Sigma professionals.
