Most biopharmaceuticals are therapeutic proteins that are produced in living cells through recombinant engineering, and then purified from the cells or their culture media using sophisticated protein-purification techniques in a multistep downstream process. These processes — and the technologies that enable them — have experienced remarkable progress in the past 30 years, since the first biopharmaceuticals were approved for human use. This article will highlight some of today’s top trends in bioprocessing, as this exciting field continues to flourish.
Getting to this point has been a multi-year progression of technological development and regulatory evolution by both the market and government.
“A bad system will beat a good person every time.” This quote by legendary management thinker W. Edwards Deming introduces the fundamental concept underlying process thinking. Process thinking, as the name implies, is a human factors-derived philosophy concerned with viewing the world through a process-oriented perspective. Processes are the essential components of our systems that enable them to execute their purpose: any set of steps designed to achieve an objective can be considered a process. The wide scope of this definition reflects the abundance of processes in all areas of our lives – both inside and outside the workplace. Based on this definition, a process is an objective-driven task.
During a recent meeting of data integrity professionals, a fundamental question was posed by a member of the group: “How can one prevent or detect malicious intent as it relates to changes to information and the impact to data integrity?” The tone of the question was one of exasperation, as a number of those present at the meeting had recently felt the frustration and disruption of information security incidents.
Harmonized standards need to be reviewed and revised to reflect requirement changes under the MDR and IVDR. The creation of Common Specifications, as well as changes to ISO 14971, further complicate the transition for med device manufacturers.
The bioprocessing industry is continuing to invest in training as it seeks to avoid problems and capacity constraints. And while budgets are increasing, new practices such as online components, standardization, and the development of accredited/certified training have not been adopted yet.
The high cost and failure rate of new drug candidates going through clinical trials are well documented and a recurring subject of research both by industry and academia.1 Further, the cost of drug development is a debated topic, and there is no consensus on what the “true cost” is because of the different methods used for these calculations.2 The lack of adequate comparable cost data and value measures also makes it difficult for pharmaceutical sponsors and trial sites to implement financial benchmarking for planning, costing, and budget management.
The previous article in our “Identifying And Resolving Errors, Defects, And Problems Within Your Organization” series focused on identifying manufacturing trends so you can know when to act. This one discusses what needs to happen when a defect or nonconformance is detected and needs to be investigated, explaining one of the most broadly applicable and durable root cause analysis tools: the fishbone diagram.
The U.K. has until March 29, 2019 to negotiate a deal with the EU to remain a member of the EMA. If no agreement is reached, MHRA has set forth the principles that will be in place on March 30 in case of a “no deal” scenario,including recently introduced new guidelines for the batch testing of medicines entering or leaving the U.K.