Featured Pharma Online Editorial

91. How To Find & Manage Biotech Consultants Effectively 9/6/2021

    The roles being filled by biotech consultants have grown considerably, as companies are becoming more familiar with working with consultants and more people are interested in pursuing a consultant career. But how do we find good consultants, and how do we ensure that our consultants are as committed and engaged as our full-time employees? Here's how to accomplish that.

92. What's The Role Of Interim Consultants In The Life Sciences & How Do We Use Them Effectively? 9/3/2021

    When life sciences companies need new talent, they typically have two options: bring in a consultant or hire a full-time employee. Usually, this decision is dictated by the permanence of the role, but sometimes, timelines complicate things. In this situation, an interim consultant can be the solution. But what is the interim consultant's role, really, and how do we use them effectively?

93. Best Practices To Ensure Quality Of Raw Materials Used To Manufacture Therapeutic Proteins 8/25/2021

    Across biologics, raw material quality is a key driver of product quality and consistency. This article recaps a recent U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) workshop on the subject, including recaps of best practices and experiences shared by the FDA, Merck, Biogen, and more.

94. The 5-Step Checklist For A More Mature, Robust Quality Management System 8/20/2021

    Whether you are preparing for a pre-approval inspection, have the corporate desire for continuous inspection readiness, or are engaged in a LEAN initiative to clean up and strengthen your quality management system (QMS), further maturing your QMS can be helpful to ensuring a robust, comprehensive, and compliant QMS.

95. How Does A Mature QMS = Fewer Drug Supply Chain Disruptions? 8/16/2021

    The FDA’s Office of Quality Surveillance launched a voluntary program to evaluate manufacturers’ quality management systems to inform decisions on the future development of an FDA rating system characterized as quality management maturity. This article explains the importance of QMM and what that looks like to the FDA.

96. EMA Publishes Guideline On Quality Documentation For Medicinal Products 8/2/2021

    This new EMA guideline will become effective on January 1, 2022. It describes the information that should be presented in the quality part of a marketing authorization dossier for a medicinal product when it is used with a medical device and/or as part of a medical device. Medicinal products are similar to "combination products" referred to by the US FDA.

97. Navigating DSCSA Implementation: Key Requirements & 4 New FDA Guidances 7/5/2021

    In the U.S., you're grappling with how to set up a fully interoperable electronic system for securing and tracing products across industry sectors per the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) by Nov. 2023. Here's how to navigate the key requirements, as well as the FDA's four new guidances on the subject released in June.

98. PIC/S Annex Update: What Is Your ATMP Control Strategy? 6/30/2021

    Recently, the Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S) revised Annex 2 of its GMP guide addressing the manufacturing of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs). While this guide is not an FDA or EMA guidance, it represents the consensus thoughts of a group that those regulators participate in. 

99. Data Integrity In Supply Chain Risk Management During Zero Trust 6/21/2021

    Due to the pandemic, we have had to reconsider our approaches to supply chain risk management and to develop new and creative risk management strategies and tactics in response. This article examines how data integrity principles mitigate ALCOA concerns during this period of zero trust.

100. What Do Artificial Intelligence And Continuous Validation Have In Common? 6/2/2021

     Validation documentation can be reduced by applying automated testing and deployment. This article discusses ISO standards that address risk management, IT alignment with software engineering, opportunities for continuous lifecycle management, and how artificial intelligence (AI) can help.