BIO From The Editor and Guest Columns

  1. Knowledge Management — Opportunities & Challenges For Legacy Drug Products 6/1/2020

    This article will explore specific challenges of managing knowledge in a legacy manufacturing environment and propose viable, practical solutions that have been found to be effective. These solutions allow practitioners to increase product and process understanding as well as performance.

  2. 2 (Major) Impediments To Faster Biopharmaceutical Product Development 5/29/2020

    As pharmaceutical products have become more complex, many companies have become bogged down in accomplishing their primary mission of launching new products by complex regulatory requirements, convoluted management approaches, and inefficient resources and methods that add time and cost to moving new products from research to the patients.

  3. DSCSA, Blockchain, & The Pharma Supply Chain — Where Do Things Stand? 5/27/2020

    As the requirements for serialization and track & trace become more challenging to implement as we approach 2023, blockchain, by providing data integrity throughout the supply chain, becomes a more attractive solution to reducing the probability of errors occurring.

  4. Identifying, Documenting, & Auditing Processes For Quality Management 5/25/2020

    Process results that are predictable and consistent can be achieved more effectively and efficiently when the activities are considered, managed, and understood as interconnected processes that function as a system.

  5. Put Your Continued Process Verification (CPV) Data To Work 5/22/2020

    Though the FDA’s process validation guidance has been in place for over a decade and other regulatory agencies (EMA, WHO, PIC/S) continue to accept the continuous process verification (CPV) concept, adoption has been slowed by the data governance, analytical capability, and technology challenges.

  6. Cell And Gene Therapy Bioprocessing: Hiring And Capacity Crunch On The Horizon 5/21/2020

    With a very healthy R&D pipeline of cell and gene therapies, we can expect multiple blockbuster products and various “orphan” niche products to be launched annually in coming years. As a result, the industry is heading for a capacity crunch.

  7. Cleaning Up The Systems Mess: A Phased Approach To Implementing Real Automation And EBRS 5/20/2020

    The biopharma industry uses the most sophisticated microbiological and genomic technology, and we experience waves of advancements in therapies driven by our computing and communications technology. So, why are we still drowning in 100-page paper batch records, books of SOPs on the plant floor, and paper documents being handled by operators?

  8. Can Biosimilars Be The Bridge To More Widespread Continuous Bioprocessing? 5/19/2020

    This article will examine the relationship between improved continuous manufacturing (CM) and biosimilar development, paying particular attention to the reasons why biosimilars are especially promising candidates for CM development and innovation.

  9. Working With Two Consultants On One QMS Overhaul: What Could Go Wrong? 5/18/2020

    Some companies in the life sciences mistakenly assume that if they hire multiple consulting firms to establish, manage, or overhaul a quality management system, it will inevitably result in an automatic licensure of their new blockbuster product at a low service cost. This article will discuss just such a scenario. 

  10. Should You List All Manufacturing Facilities In Your Drug Application? A Question Of Regulatory Ethics 5/15/2020

    In this second installment of a two-part article, we will review the importance of listing all appropriate manufacturing facilities in the drug substance section of a drug application and discuss the role of regulatory professionals in ensuring that the necessary information is included in the application.