247 Biotechnology courses in Cardiff delivered On Demand

The CTD is the internationally recognised standard format for submissions to medicines regulatory authorities. In the European Economic Area, the USA and Canada, the CTD, in its electronic format (eCTD), is mandatory for all applications for marketing approval and all subsequent related submissions. The CTD is accepted in many other countries, being mandatory for new prescription medicines in some. This module explains the rationale for the CTD and provides guidance on its structure and format and the ways in which it is used.

Medicines for the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of rare diseases have become known as ‘orphan drugs’ because of their commercial unattractiveness. Development of such products is successfully encouraged through incentives offered by regulatory authorities. To qualify for important incentives, the sponsor of a drug must gain ‘orphan designation’ for its use in an indication. This module describes the requirements for orphan designation and how to apply for it in the USA and the European Economic Area.

The Centralised Procedure (CP) is one of three routes available to applicants to gain multinational marketing authorisation within the European Economic Area (EEA) on the basis of a single application. In the CP, one successful application leads to a marketing authorisation being issued by the European Commission that applies throughout the EEA. The CP is mandatory for certain types of products.

The sponsor of a clinical trial needs to reach agreement with clinical investigators to conduct the trial. The suitability of investigators and their institutional sites, typically hospitals, has to be evaluated, and the trial has to be set up at each site. This module describes the processes involved, focusing particularly on the role of a Clinical Research Associate (CRA) employed or contracted by the sponsor to monitor the trial.

This module provides an understanding of how clinical trials fit into the drug development process. It outlines the key historical events leading to the development of controlled clinical trials. It specifies the purpose of trials, outlines their features, and identifies codes and regulations that apply to them. Finally, it describes the environment of cost control in which the modern pharmaceutical industry operates.

The warehouse plays a crucial role in a medicinal products factory. This module explains the requirements of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for the warehouse, and how to comply with them.

21CFR11 applies to records that are required to be submitted to the FDA, or that are subject to FDA inspection, and that are in electronic form – that is, as computer files. It applies to all computer systems used to create, modify, maintain, archive, retrieve, or transmit such records – from a humble spreadsheet program to a complex information management system.

Proactive risk management is a major component of good pharmacovigilance practice. This module sets out the principles of risk management planning and outlines regulatory requirements for risk management plans in regions that are major markets for medicinal products.

A 505(b)(2) New Drug Application (NDA) is a submission to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval to market a drug in the USA. It differs from a ‘stand-alone’ NDA in that some of the data on which the applicant relies to demonstrate safety and efficacy have been obtained from publicly available sources rather than from the applicant’s own studies. The applicant typically proposes to market a drug that is based on an approved reference product but modified in its formulation or uses. A 505(b)(2) NDA also differs from an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for approval of a generic drug in that the applicant’s product need not be a duplicate of the reference listed drug. The 505(b)(2) pathway may be said to lie part-way between the ‘stand-alone’ NDA and generics pathways, offering a unique combination of advantages to developers. It facilitates the modification of drugs to address unmet medical needs. The 505(b)(2) application pathway accounts for about half of all new drug approvals in the USA.

This course describes the requirements that must be met by, and options available to, the sponsor during the conduct of an authorised clinical trial. It identifies the various interactions with MSCs that occur via the Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS), and it summarises and links to the extensive guidance available from the European Commission and the European Medicines Agency. Its companion course CT11 sets out the European legal and regulatory context for clinical trials and describes how to apply via the CTIS for authorisation to conduct trials. The two courses therefore provide an ideal foundation for understanding and complying with the new law.