Clinical Relevance of Dissolution Testing in Quality by Design

Quality by design (QbD) has recently been introduced in pharmaceutical product development in a regulatory context and the process of implementing such concepts in the drug approval process is presently on-going. This has the potential to allow for a more flexible regulatory approach based on understanding and optimisation of how design of a product and its manufacturing process may affect product quality. Thus, adding restrictions to manufacturing beyond what can be motivated by clinical quality brings no benefits but only additional costs. This leads to a challenge for biopharmaceutical scientists to link clinical product performance to critical manufacturing attributes. In vitro dissolution testing is clearly a key tool for this purpose and the present bioequivalence guidelines and biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS) provides a platform for regulatory applications of in vitro dissolution as a marker for consistency in clinical outcomes. However, the application of these concepts might need to be further developed in the context of QbD to take advantage of the higher level of understanding that is implied and displayed in regulatory documentation utilising QbD concepts. Aspects that should be considered include identification of rate limiting steps in the absorption process that can be linked to pharmacokinetic variables and used for prediction of bioavailability variables, in vivo relevance of in vitro dissolution test conditions and performance/interpretation of specific bioavailability studies on critical formulation/process variables. This article will give some examples and suggestions how clinical relevance of dissolution testing can be achieved in the context of QbD derived from a specific case study for a BCS II compound.     

The Degradation Map Process – A Tool for Obtaining a Lean Stability Strategy in Drug Development

Stability is fundamental when exploring a drug candidate's potential as a drug product. During the pharmaceutical industry drug development process information regarding stability and degradation are captured in different departments, e.g. from discovery to operations, and will be included in the overall control strategy. With a profound understanding of a drug candidate's degradation chemistry, a science and risk based approach in progressing a lean stability strategy is possible. This case study present a clear and visible concept to facilitate a lean stability strategy by the use of degradation maps and describes a process for how these can be used during drug development. The understanding of possible and/or observed degradation pathways will guide the design of the drug product and stability studies in development. A degradation map displays degradation pathways with short comments on the reaction/mechanism involved. The degradation map process starts with a theoretical degradation map. The map is updated as the drug project progresses, preferably after forced degradation experiments, after compatibility studies and finally when the late stage formulation is set. The degradation map should be used to capture information of intrinsic chemical properties of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and can thereby be used to mitigate stability issues. The map is foremost a cross-functionally available tool collecting and visualizing stability information throughout the development process, and as such a valuable tool to efficiently develop a lean stability strategy.     

A Practical Framework Toward Prediction of Breaking Force and Disintegration of Tablet Formulations Using Machine Learning Tools

Enabling the paradigm of quality by design requires the ability to quantitatively correlate material properties and process variables to measureable product performance attributes. Conventional, quality-by-test methods for determining tablet breaking force and disintegration time usually involve destructive tests, which consume significant amount of time and labor and provide limited information. Recent advances in material characterization, statistical analysis, and machine learning have provided multiple tools that have the potential to develop nondestructive, fast, and accurate approaches in drug product development. In this work, a methodology to predict the breaking force and disintegration time of tablet formulations using nondestructive ultrasonics and machine learning tools was developed. The input variables to the model include intrinsic properties of formulation and extrinsic process variables influencing the tablet during manufacturing. The model has been applied to predict breaking force and disintegration time using small quantities of active pharmaceutical ingredient and prototype formulation designs. The novel approach presented is a step forward toward rational design of a robust drug product based on insight into the performance of common materials during formulation and process development. It may also help expedite drug product development timeline and reduce active pharmaceutical ingredient usage while improving efficiency of the overall process.     

Understanding Pharmaceutical Quality by Design

This review further clarifies the concept of pharmaceutical quality by design (QbD) and describes its objectives. QbD elements include the following: (1) a quality target product profile (QTPP) that identifies the critical quality attributes (CQAs) of the drug product; (2) product design and understanding including identification of critical material attributes (CMAs); (3) process design and understanding including identification of critical process parameters (CPPs), linking CMAs and CPPs to CQAs; (4) a control strategy that includes specifications for the drug substance(s), excipient(s), and drug product as well as controls for each step of the manufacturing process; and (5) process capability and continual improvement. QbD tools and studies include prior knowledge, risk assessment, mechanistic models, design of experiments (DoE) and data analysis, and process analytical technology (PAT). As the pharmaceutical industry moves toward the implementation of pharmaceutical QbD, a common terminology, understanding of concepts and expectations are necessary. This understanding will facilitate better communication between those involved in risk-based drug development and drug application review.     

Pharmaceutical Quality by Design: Product and Process Development, Understanding, and Control

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the pharmaceutical Quality by Design (QbD) and describe how it can be used to ensure pharmaceutical quality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The QbD was described and some of its elements identified. Process parameters and quality attributes were identified for each unit operation during manufacture of solid oral dosage forms. The use of QbD was contrasted with the evaluation of product quality by testing alone. RESULTS: The QbD is a systemic approach to pharmaceutical development. It means designing and developing formulations and manufacturing processes to ensure predefined product quality. Some of the QbD elements include: Defining target product quality profile; Designing product and manufacturing processes; Identifying critical quality attributes, process parameters, and sources of variability; Controlling manufacturing processes to produce consistent quality over time. CONCLUSIONS: Using QbD, pharmaceutical quality is assured by understanding and controlling formulation and manufacturing variables. Product testing confirms the product quality. Implementation of QbD will enable transformation of the chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) review of abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) into a science-based pharmaceutical quality assessment.     

Application of Multivariate Tools in Pharmaceutical Product Development to Bridge Risk Assessment to Continuous Verification in a Quality by Design Environment

An important aspect of a quality by design approach to pharmaceutical product formulation and process development is continuous quality verification. This is an innovative way of validating the process where manufacturing performance is continuously monitored, evaluated and adjusted as necessary. For new drug products, the body of knowledge accumulated through the development cycle and formalised via risk assessment forms the natural basis of this activity. This paper shows how multivariate tools can be used as part of a continuous quality verification approach for a new drug product relying on the information that summarises the control strategy, i.e. the subset of critical variables selected via risk assessment and the related proven acceptable ranges determined during developmental studies.     

Syringe Filling of High-Concentration mAb Products Using Peristaltic Pump-Based Mechanism: Challenges and Mitigation Strategies

Syringe filling of high-concentration mAb formulation during manufacturing of large-scale drug product batches may present challenges such as product deposition onto the area of the syringe barrel where the stopper is inserted, product splashing or dripping, droplets left after the fill cycle, filling needle clogging, product build-up inside the needle during line stoppages, variation in fill weight/volume, and potential impact on product quality attributes. In this article, a summary of these issues and approaches to overcome them are summarized. Potential failure modes of the syringe filling process and appropriate in-process controls are provided. In addition to developing the filling process or resolving manufacturing issues, the pharmaceutical company developing the product and associated drug product manufacturing process may want to implement long-term strategic approaches to support the portfolio progression. Potential long-term approaches such as use of a viscosity reducing formulation development approach, improving peristaltic filling technology performance, building small-scale filling capability and establishing a streamlined filling process management cycle are also summarized. The aspects summarized in this article may be used to develop a robust filling process and control strategy for high-concentration mAb products and implement long-term strategic approaches to support the portfolio progression.     

A new roadmap for biopharmaceutical drug product development: Integrating development, validation, and quality by design

Quality by design (QbD) is a science- and risk-based approach to drug product development. Although pharmaceutical companies have historically used many of the same principles during development, this knowledge was not always formally captured or proactively submitted to regulators. In recent years, the US Food and Drug Administration has also recognized the need for more controls in the drug manufacturing processes, especially for biological therapeutics, and it has recently launched an initiative for Pharmaceutical Quality for the 21st Century to modernize pharmaceutical manufacturing and improve product quality. In the biopharmaceutical world, the QbD efforts have been mainly focused on active pharmaceutical ingredient processes with little emphasis on drug product development. We present a systematic approach to biopharmaceutical drug product development using a monoclonal antibody as an example. The approach presented herein leverages scientific understanding of products and processes, risk assessments, and rational experimental design to deliver processes that are consistent with QbD philosophy without excessive incremental effort. Data generated using these approaches will not only strengthen data packages to support specifications and manufacturing ranges but hopefully simplify implementation of postapproval changes. We anticipate that this approach will positively impact cost for companies, regulatory agencies, and patients, alike.     

Engineering of pharmaceutical materials: an industrial perspective

Crystal engineering provides a rational approach to solving formulation, processing and product performance problems. This review discusses how the concept of crystal engineering can be judiciously utilized to manipulate the solid-state properties of drugs and excipients for successful pharmaceutical formulation and process development. Existing and emerging manufacturing as well as co-processing technologies being applied in the pharmaceutical industry are also presented together with selected examples of crystal form design, crystal form selection and crystal modifications for illustration purposes.     

A Tutorial for Developing a Topical Cream Formulation Based on the Quality by Design Approach

The pharmaceutical industry has entered in a new era, as there is a growing interest in increasing the quality standards of dosage forms, through the implementation of more structured development and manufacturing approaches. For many decades, the manufacturing of drug products was controlled by a regulatory framework to guarantee the quality of the final product through a fixed process and exhaustive testing. Limitations related to the Quality by Test system have been widely acknowledged. The emergence of Quality by Design (QbD) as a systematic and risk-based approach introduced a new quality concept based on a good understanding of how raw materials and process parameters influence the final quality profile. Although the QbD system has been recognized as a revolutionary approach to product development and manufacturing, its full implementation in the pharmaceutical field is still limited. This is particularly evident in the case of semisolid complex formulation development. The present review aims at establishing a practical QbD framework to describe all stages comprised in the pharmaceutical development of a conventional cream in a comprehensible manner.     

指导原则解读系列专题(十七) 药学研究资料综述撰写的基本考虑(一)

药学研究是药物研发的重要组成部分,是药物进行安全性、有效性研究的基础。药学研究资料综述应体现申报品种整个药学研究工作的总结、分析和自我评价内容,它对于注册申请人以及技术审评人员全面、系统地了解申报品种的药学研究内容具有非常重要的意义。文中根据相关技术指导原则,对药学研究综述资料的撰写内容以及需关注的相关技术问题进行了阐述,供药品注册和药学研究工作参考,以提高注册质量和效率。     

Opportunities and challenges of three-dimensional printing technology in pharmaceutical formulation development

Three-dimensional printing is a technology that prints the products layer-by-layer, in which materials are deposited according to the digital model designed by computer aided design (CAD) software. This technology has competitive advantages regarding product design complexity, product personalization, and on-demand manufacturing. The emergence of 3D technology provides innovative strategies and new ways to develop novel drug delivery systems. This review summarizes the application of 3D printing technologies in the pharmaceutical field, with an emphasis on the advantages of 3D printing technologies for achieving rapid drug delivery, personalized drug delivery, compound drug delivery and customized drug delivery. In addition, this article illustrates the limitations and challenges of 3D printing technologies in the field of pharmaceutical formulation development.     

Risk management for moisture related effects in dry manufacturing processes: a statistical approach

A risk- and science-based approach to control the quality in pharmaceutical manufacturing includes a full understanding of how product attributes and process parameters relate to product performance through a proactive approach in formulation and process development. For dry manufacturing, where moisture content is not directly manipulated within the process, the variability in moisture of the incoming raw materials can impact both the processability and drug product quality attributes. A statistical approach is developed using individual raw material historical lots as a basis for the calculation of tolerance intervals for drug product moisture content so that risks associated with excursions in moisture content can be mitigated. The proposed method is based on a model-independent approach that uses available data to estimate parameters of interest that describe the population of blend moisture content values and which do not require knowledge of the individual blend moisture content values. Another advantage of the proposed tolerance intervals is that, it does not require the use of tabulated values for tolerance factors. This facilitates the implementation on any spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel. A computational example is used to demonstrate the proposed method.     

Generic Development of Topical Dermatologic Products, Part II: Quality by Design for Topical Semisolid Products

The emergence of quality by design as a relatively new systematic science and risk-based approach has added a new dimension to pharmaceutical development and manufacturing. This review attempts to discuss the quality by design elements and concepts applied for topical semisolid products. Quality by design begins with defining a quality target product profile as well as critical quality attributes. Subsequently, this is followed by risk identification/risk analysis/risk evaluation to recognize critical material attributes and critical process parameters, in conjunction with design of experiments or other appropriate methods to establish control strategies for the drug product. Several design-of-experiment examples are included as practical strategies for the development and optimization of formulation and process for topical drug products.     

Quality control of residual solvent content in polymeric microparticles

Abstract

Organic solvents are the innate part of pharmaceutical industry, playing vital role in the bulk drug substance as well as finished product manufacturing. Even though they are used for various crucial purposes, they still lack therapeutic beneficial effect and can be toxic if present in unacceptable limits in final product. Hence, their concentration must be regulated in the final pharmaceutical formulation. With the major development in the market of polymeric microparticles in past few decades, drug product manufacturers are paying more attention towards the development of new techniques for reducing residual solvent content of microparticles. This article sheds light on the importance of removal of organic volatile impurities from the formulation and its regulatory aspects. It also highlights how residual solvent affects various physicochemical characteristics of polymeric microparticles and suggests certain solutions as per the current state of art for limiting organic solvent content in the final product.     

A Quality by Design Approach to Developing and Manufacturing Polymeric Nanoparticle Drug Products

The translation of nanomedicines from concepts to commercial products has not reached its full potential, in part because of the technical and regulatory challenges associated with chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) development of such complex products. It is critical to take a quality by design (QbD) approach to developing nanomedicines—using a risk-based approach to identifying and classifying product attributes and process parameters and ultimately developing a deep understanding of the products, processes, and platform. This article exemplifies a QbD approach used by BIND Therapeutics, Inc., to industrialize a polymeric targeted nanoparticle drug delivery platform. The focus of the approach is on CMC affairs but consideration is also given to preclinical, clinical, and regulatory aspects of pharmaceutical development. Processes are described for developing a quality target product profile and designing supporting preclinical studies, defining critical quality attributes and process parameters, building a process knowledge map, and employing QbD to support outsourced manufacturing.     

TIMERx: novel polysaccharide composites for controlled/programmed release of drugs in the gastrointestinal tract

Over the last 100 years tablets have grown from first invention to becoming the world's leading medicinal form, by any measure. This article considers some of the reasons for the pre-eminence of pharmaceutical tablets. Particular attention has been given to the role of controlled-release tablets and to a very versatile hydrogel-based controlled-release technology, called TIMERx((R)). The unique nature of TIMERx intermolecular physical chemistry is described in relation to the technology's potential to provide any one of a number of different release profiles, ranging from zero order to chronotherapeutic release. The unusual nature of TIMERx technology lies in its ability to provide different release kinetics by the manipulation of molecular interactions. This 'molecular engine' replaces the need for complex processing or novel excipients and allows desired drug release profiles to be 'factory set' following a simple formulation development process. The article describes the physico-chemical interactions of TIMERx technology at a molecular level and how they can be manipulated by formulation considerations. The article describes how TIMERx technology has been developed to the point where today it underpins a number of marketed pharmaceutical CR products as well as products under development by Penwest Pharmaceuticals.     

Stress Factors in Protein Drug Product Manufacturing and Their Impact on Product Quality

Injectable protein-based medicinal products (drug products, or DPs) must be produced by using sterile manufacturing processes to ensure product safety. In DP manufacturing the protein drug substance, in a suitable final formulation, is combined with the desired primary packaging (e.g., syringe, cartridge, or vial) that guarantees product integrity and enables transportation, storage, handling and clinical administration. The protein DP is exposed to several stress conditions during each of the unit operations in DP manufacturing, some of which can be detrimental to product quality. For example, particles, aggregates and chemically-modified proteins can form during manufacturing, and excessive amounts of these undesired variants might cause an impact on potency or immunogenicity. Therefore, DP manufacturing process development should include identification of critical quality attributes (CQAs) and comprehensive risk assessment of potential protein modifications in process steps, and the relevant steps must be characterized and controlled. In this commentary article we focus on the major unit operations in protein DP manufacturing, and critically evaluate each process step for stress factors involved and their potential effects on DP CQAs. Moreover, we discuss the current industry trends for risk mitigation, process control including analytical monitoring, and recommendations for formulation and process development studies, including scaled-down runs.     

TIMERx®: novel polysaccharide composites for controlled/programmed release of drugs in the gastrointestinal tract

Over the last 100 years tablets have grown from first invention to becoming the world's leading medicinal form, by any measure. This article considers some of the reasons for the pre-eminence of pharmaceutical tablets. Particular attention has been given to the role of controlled-release tablets and to a very versatile hydrogel-based controlled-release technology, called TIMERx^®. The unique nature of TIMERx intermolecular physical chemistry is described in relation to the technology's potential to provide any one of a number of different release profiles, ranging from zero order to chronotherapeutic release. The unusual nature of TIMERx technology lies in its ability to provide different release kinetics by the manipulation of molecular interactions. This 'molecular engine' replaces the need for complex processing or novel excipients and allows desired drug release profiles to be 'factory set' following a simple formulation development process. The article describes the physico-chemical interactions of TIMERx technology at a molecular level and how they can be manipulated by formulation considerations. The article describes how TIMERx technology has been developed to the point where today it underpins a number of marketed pharmaceutical CR products as well as products under development by Penwest Pharmaceuticals.     

Application of UV Imaging in Formulation Development

Efficient drug delivery is dependent on the drug substance dissolving in the body fluids, being released from dosage forms and transported to the site of action. A fundamental understanding of the interplay between the physicochemical properties of the active compound and pharmaceutical excipients defining formulation behavior after exposure to the aqueous environments and pharmaceutical performance is critical in pharmaceutical development, manufacturing and quality control of drugs. UV imaging has been explored as a tool for qualitative and quantitative characterization of drug dissolution and release with the characteristic feature of providing real-time visualization of the solution phase drug transport in the vicinity of the formulation. Events occurring during drug dissolution and release, such as polymer swelling, drug precipitation/recrystallization, or solvent-mediated phase transitions related to the structural properties of the drug substance or formulation can be monitored. UV imaging is a non-intrusive and simple-to-operate analytical technique which holds potential for providing a mechanistic foundation for formulation development. This review aims to cover applications of UV imaging in the early and late phase pharmaceutical development with a special focus on the relation between structural properties and performance. Potential areas of future advancement and application are also discussed.