While communications from health authorities continue to pour in regarding actions they are taking to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EMA published three new items that merit attention from the life sciences industry. Two of them result from the pandemic; the third has been under development.
We must change the way we think. We must stop perceiving our processes as separate from the current supporting and related downstream technology. We must begin to consider and care as much about how our data will be used or interpreted as we do about how we create it.
To address the current worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, more controls are being imposed by cities, states, and countries. Trucks are being delayed at borders. Flights are being canceled. It is important to be capable of adapting work practices around this ever-changing situation.
Do you like fighting quality fires? Do you enjoy generating meaningless metric reports that no one acts upon? Do you get the most from your quality risk management (QRM) program? This article provides three practical steps for integrating QRM into your quality system to ensure your organization stays on course.
Even before the global pandemic of the novel coronavirus, virtual meetings were on the rise, but now there is a public health imperative, with a large percentage of people working from home. If you are facilitating a risk assessment, a root cause investigation, or something similar, you may need to do a “virtual facilitation” with team members and subject matter experts who are scattered around the world.
The FDA conducted a total of 18,034 inspections in FY2019, off which 6,434 were inspections of biologics, medical device, or drug companies. Those inspections resulted in the issuance of 15,015 warning letters, a slight increase over 2018. The FDA also increased its import alerts, publishing 98 in 2019. This corresponded with a decrease in injunctions and seizures, showing the FDA’s preference for earlier preventive measures over later involvement.
To illustrate how delivery device development is evolving in practice, we will use the example of respiratory inhalers. This is a well-established treatment modality, with mature technology solutions available, but one where you can envisage a number of future changes enabled by technology.
This the second article in a two-part series on conducting microorganism challenge studies using online water bioburden analyzers (OWBAs) in a laboratory setting. Part 1 discussed two different experimental approaches that have been successfully used for microorganism challenges. This second article explores the six pitfalls to avoid and four best practices to follow during execution of microorganism challenge tests.
This article is the first in a two-part series explaining how to successfully harmonize disparate quality systems when two companies merge. Here in Part 1, we will focus on what not to do when reconciling two quality systems, providing real-life examples — drawn from the author’s experiences — from each phase of QMS harmonization.
As we face our latest pandemic threat, the need to have a well-defined and tested business continuity management plan in place cannot be overemphasized. Beyond state and national preparedness plans, organizations should be actively evaluating their continuity plans, especially when it comes to strategic contract service providers and partners, to ensure there is a reasonable mitigation plan in place.