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An effective quality risk management (QRM) process provides a key mechanism for the proactive identification and control of potential issues that may arise during product development and subsequent commercialisation1. In this context, risk is defined as the combination of the probability of occurrence of harm (or unwanted outcome) and the…
15 April 2014 | By Joshua Boateng and Harshavardhan Pawar, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemical and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Science, University of Greenwich
Antimicrobial drugs form a significant aspect of disease therapy and are a major means of treating bacterial, fungal and viral infections. The issue of antimicrobial therapy is of current interest and clinical concern. This is mainly due to two key reasons; (i) persistent emergence of microbial resistant strains and (ii)…
15 April 2014 | By Dennis Douroumis, Reader in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Greenwich and the Director of Centre for Innovation in Process Engineering and Research
Hot Melt Extrusion (HME) has attracted increased interest for the development of pharmaceutical dosage forms over the last decade. It is a versatile processing technology which produces extrudates in the form of solid dispersions and solid solutions. Among the various applications, HME has been adopted for the development of sustained…
15 April 2014 | By Jose Montenegro-Alvarado, Bradley Diehl, Jean-Maxime Guay, Steve Hammond, Hiwot Isaac, Ben Lyons, Conor McSweeney, Seamus O’Neill, Jean-Sébastien Simard and Joep Timmermans, Pfizer Inc.
This article reviews some emerging applications of Process Analytical Technologies (PAT) for packaging quality testing. Specifically, four commercially-available packaging applications are explored in further detail: Raman spectroscopy for rapid material identification testing of polymeric packaging materials; vision-based elastic deformation for non-destructive blister integrity testing; X-ray monitoring for inline blister fill…
15 April 2014 | By Ali Al-khattawi, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Aston University / Afzal R. Mohammed, Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics, Aston University
There is an ongoing debate over the use of pharmaceutical excipients in medicines for children, triggered by the increased number of formulations suitable for this target patient population. Pharmaceutical excipients can be regarded as essential / necessary enablers in formulation development. These are materials other than the ‘active pharmaceutical ingredient’…
In Issue #1 2014: Raman Spectroscopy in-depth focus, Ingredients, LIMS, Kinase, Near Infrared in-depth focus, RNA, Microbiology...
In this Raman Spectroscopy In-Depth Focus 2014: Raman spectroscopy in the study of pharmaceuticals: the problems and solutions to sub-sampling and data analysis; Conformational state analysis of proteins by Raman spectroscopy: univariate and multivariate methods; Raman Roundtable...
In this Near Infrared Spectroscopy In-Depth Focus: Applicability and new developments; Near infrared spectroscopy: in-line biopharmaceutical Chinese Hamster Ovary cell culture monitoring...
Whereas the existing ICH quality documents covering impurities in new drug substances (ICH Q3A(R2)) and drug products (ICH Q3B (R2)) provide a framework for the qualification and control of most commonly encountered impurities and degradants, it is recognised that lower thresholds may be appropriate if the impurity is unusually toxic…
19 February 2014 | By M. Babu Medi and Ramesh Chintala, Vaccine Drug Product Development, Merck & Co, Inc and Akhilesh Bhambhani, Novel Adjuvants, Formulation and Delivery Technologies, Merck & Co, Inc.
Excipients are an integral part of pharmaceutical products and play an important role in the formulation development of both small and large molecule pharmaceuticals. The type and extent of excipient use depends on several factors, including the type of active ingredient, route of administration, dosage form, target population and indication…
19 February 2014 | By Cindy Novak-DeLaurell, Systems Application Consultant, Allergan
Over the past 20 years, I have participated in numerous LIMS implementation projects in a variety of roles. I have participated as a subject matter expert (SME), validation coordinator, programmer, System Administrator and technical representative, and have worked both in the laboratories and IS during these projects; gaining an insight…
The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) has emerged as a promising cancer therapeutic target. Some rapamycin analogues (rapalogues) as mTOR allosteric inhibitors are FDA-approved drugs for treatment of certain types of cancers. However, the modest clinical anticancer activity of rapalogues, which preferentially inhibit mTOR complex 1, in most types of…
19 February 2014 | By Juha K. Rantala, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health and Science University
The last 10 years in biomedical research marks the period of deepening our understanding of the human genome. In the context of cancer research, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and related international genomics efforts have now revealed the full complexity of genomic aberrations in human cancers that are postulated to…
Any pharmaceutical product, whether manufactured in the hospital or industrial environment, has the potential to be contaminated with microorganisms. With sterile products, any microbial contamination presents an unacceptable risk; with non-sterile products, the implication of the contamination is dependent upon whether the microorganism can be considered ‘objectionable’, and then to…
In Issue #6 2013: PAT in-depth focus, Lab Automation, Proteomics, Next Gen Sequencing, Screening in-depth focus, Microbiology...
