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Q10 Pharmaceutical Quality System

FinalCenter for Drug Evaluation and Research Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research04/08/2009
GMPChange Management SystemQuality Risk ManagementKnowledge ManagementPharmaceutical Quality SystemChange ManagementCAPAProcess Validation

Description

This internationally harmonized guidance is intended to assist pharmaceutical manufacturers by describing a model for an effective quality management system for the pharmaceutical industry, referred to as the pharmaceutical quality system. Throughout this guidance, the term pharmaceutical quality system refers to the ICH Q10 model.

Key Topics

Terms and concepts identified from this document

Scope & Applicability

Product Classes

2
Biotechnology and biological products

The guidance applies to these product types throughout the lifecycle.

Investigational Products

Regional GMPs apply to the manufacture of these products.

Stakeholders

6
pharmaceutical manufacturers

Entities intended to be alerted by this guidance.

Senior Management

Has ultimate responsibility to ensure an effective pharmaceutical quality system is in place.; Persons who direct and control a company or site at the highest levels.

Independent Quality Unit

Responsible for batch review and release

Contract Giver

Party involved in outsourced activities

Contract Acceptor

Party performing outsourced activities

Quality Unit

Oversees reprocess or rework of batches

Regulatory Context

Regulatory Activities

3
Regulatory Inspection

Used to evaluate the effectiveness of the pharmaceutical quality system.; Source of feedback on product quality and management review input

Regulatory Inspections

Direct access to source data and documents enabling inspections.

Audit

Sponsor's independent function to assess trial conduct

Document Types

4
Quality Manual

Document addressing the scope of the QMS and its procedures.

Quality Policy

Describes the overall intentions and direction of the company related to quality.

Marketing Authorization

Proposed changes evaluated relative to this filing

Written Agreement

Required between contract giver and contract acceptor for outsourced activities

Attributes

3
Quality Attributes

Drug product characteristics requiring bridging

Product Stability

Shelf life considerations if administration schedules are revised.

Performance Indicators

Used to monitor the effectiveness of processes and progress against quality objectives.

Technical Details

Substances

2
Drug substances

Drug substances used to establish equivalence should be manufactured with materials manufactured at the new scale

Active pharmaceutical ingredients

The active ingredient in a drug product where NDSRIs could be present.

Testing Methods

2
Analytical method development

A technical activity within the Pharmaceutical Development stage.

Stability Testing

Testing used to justify leveraging data across products

Processes

6
Technology Transfer

Required when transferring a process to a new facility.

Real-time release

Mechanisms established through product and process understanding.

Commercial Manufacturing

Accumulated knowledge used in assessing changes

Process Validation

General principles and practices for manufacturing validation; Summary of batch data for new synthetic procedures

Pharmaceutical Development

Section P2 of the application information.

Product Discontinuation

Managing the terminal stage of the product lifecycle

Standards & References

Specifications

2
Control Strategy

Planned set of controls derived from current product and process understanding

Design Space

scientific understanding to support the establishment of the design space; multidimensional combination of input variables and process parameters

ICH References (4)

ICH Q10

Pharmaceutical Quality System

ICH Q7

Good Manufacturing Practice Guidance for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients; Reworking needs more evaluation and testing according to ICH Q7; Good manufacturing practice for API starting materials; Referenced regarding the definition of intermediates.

ICH Q8

Principles of Quality by Design described within ICH Q8-Q11.; Pharmaceutical development guidance; Pharmaceutical development and CQA measurement during processing; Defines product lifecycle phases; Referenced for Critical Quality Attributes (CQA); Pharmaceutical Development.; General principles related to model development, validation and verification; Principles described in ICH Q8 apply to stability models; Pharmaceutical Development guideline mentioned regarding enhanced level of understandi

ICH Q9

Quality Risk Management recommended for combination products

Related MFDS Guidelines

Korean regulatory guidelines covering similar topics

See Also (8)