275 Pharmacology courses

Validation of equipment, services, systems and processes is vitally important in the medicines and healthcare products industries. Regulatory authorities require documented evidence that manufacturing processes will consistently result in products meeting predetermined quality standards. This module provides an introduction to validation and to the regulations and guidance that apply to it. It describes the activities of a typical validation team as they carry out a project for a pharmaceutical company.

This module describes the design, development and installation phase, the validation phase, and the operation and maintenance phase of the validation of computerised systems in medicines and healthcare products manufacturing environments. It continues to follow the progress of a pharmaceutical company's project to validate a new dispensary control system.

In the medicines and healthcare products industries, computerised systems used in automated manufacturing or laboratory processes to which Good Manufacturing Practice requirements apply need to be validated. This module describes the planning of such validation. It follows the work of a pharmaceutical company's team as they validate the dispensary control system for a new production line.

Manufacturers of medicines and healthcare products must establish, validate and maintain an equipment cleaning programme. This is a regulatory requirement because validated cleaning procedures contribute to the assurance of product purity and safety. This module provides a comprehensive account of equipment cleaning validation requirements and procedures. It follows the work of a pharmaceutical company's validation team as they establish and validate the cleaning program for a new production line.

Essential to validation is the provision of documented evidence verifying that manufacturing processes will consistently result in products meeting predetermined quality standards. This module describes the purpose, content and use of validation master plans, project validation plans, and other documentation for validation projects in the medicines and healthcare products industries. It describes the activities of a typical validation team as they carry out a project for a pharmaceutical company.

The regulation of biological medicinal products is governed by different laws from those that apply to small-molecule synthetic drugs. Producing faithful copies of therapeutic proteins is more challenging than producing generic drugs. The US legal framework for the licensure of follow-on biologics, and accompanying regulatory guidance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have been established only in recent years.

This module outlines the legislative and regulatory context for the development of generic drugs and describes the essential role of the Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) in gaining marketing approval. The use of information in the ‘Orange Book’ is explained, as is the role of patent certification in the application. The importance of establishing bioequivalence between a generic and its reference product is emphasised. The module specifies the content and format requirements for an ANDA submission and describes the FDA’s review and approval process. An outline is given of the Generic Drug User Fee Amendments (GDUFA) and the law’s effects on industry players.

This foundation-level module is the ideal introduction for new entrants to the field of pharmaceutical regulatory affairs and compliance. It describes the principal requirements that must be satisfied to gain and maintain approval to market medicinal products in the USA and Europe. The legal framework and the roles of major players in regulation are presented. The life-cycle of a drug is outlined. The various procedures available for assessment and approval of products are described and their requirements outlined. Obligations to be fulfilled after marketing approval are discussed.

Changes to the terms of marketing authorisations for medicinal products, called variations in Europe, must be notified to or approved by the relevant regulatory authorities. Variations include changes to the composition of products, their manufacturing processes, the way they are used, or the indications for which they are authorised. Common approaches are adopted within the European Economic Area to variations to marketing authorisations approved through the Centralised, Decentralised or Mutual Recognition Procedures. Recent legislation has substantially modified the regulatory requirements and extended them to purely national authorisations by member states. This module, which is fully up to date with the new legislation, covers the classification of variations into their several types and the regulatory requirements, guidance and procedures to be followed for each type.

The sponsor of a clinical trial must arrange for it to be monitored throughout its duration to ensure that the rights and wellbeing of subjects are protected, the trial data are accurate, complete and verified from source documents, and the conduct of the trial complies with the study protocol, Good Clinical Practice and regulatory requirements. In this module we describe how a Clinical Research Associate (CRA) monitors an ongoing trial to its conclusion.