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Q1D Bracketing and Matrixing Designs for Stability Testing of New Drug Substances and Products

FinalCenter for Drug Evaluation and Research Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research01/16/2003
Stability TestingMatrixingBracketing designData Variability

Description

This guidance is intended to address recommendations on the application of bracketing and matrixing to stability studies conducted in accordance with principles outlined in the ICH guidance Q1A(R) Stability Testing of New Drug Substances and Products (the parent guidance).

Key Topics

Terms and concepts identified from this document

Scope & Applicability

Product Classes

6
New Drug Products

Scope of the guidance

New Drug Substances

Scope of the guidance

Oral solutions

Solubilized dosage forms where BA/BE may be self-evident

Complex Drug Delivery Systems

additional justification should be provided where there are a large number of potential drug-device interactions

Drug Products

Scope of the analytical procedures

Drug Substances

Scope of the analytical procedures

Regulatory Context

Document Types

1
Stability schedule

Matrixing is the design of a stability schedule such that a selected subset of samples is tested.

Attributes

10
Variability

Sampling variability controlled by the sample size of the study.

Degradation rates

Evaluation of the proposed matrixing design with respect to its power to detect differences among factors in the degradation rates.

Moisture vapor transmission rates

Supporting data could be supplied showing relative moisture vapor transmission rates.

Storage condition

Each storage condition should be treated separately under its own matrixing design.

Oxygen permeation rate

Characteristics include oxygen permeation rate per dosage unit or unit fill volume.

Water vapor permeation rate

Characteristics include container wall thickness, closure geometry, and water vapor permeation rate.

Fill

A design factor evaluated in stability studies

Container Size

Administrative change requires unique SID for each container size

Strength

controls in place to maintain the strength, composition, and purity

Shelf Life

Determined based on stability data; Established through stability testing; also called dating period.; Established through formal stability studies; Establishing the period during which a drug product is expected to remain within specifications; Period for drug products; The period during which a drug product is expected to remain within specifications; Duration product remains within acceptance criteria; Period during which product remains within specifications; Established for intermediates pu

Technical Details

Substances

2
Excipients

Differences in excipients may affect product stability

Drug substance

quantitative measurement of the major component(s) in the drug substance; changes in the synthesis of the drug substance

Testing Methods

3
Statistical justification

Where the supporting data exhibit moderate variability, a matrixing design should be statistically justified.

Stability Testing

Testing used to justify leveraging data across products

Statistical Analysis

plan for evaluating equivalent or improved performance

Processes

3
Matrixing

Alternative approach to stability protocol design; A science- and risk-based reduced stability design strategy.; Matrixing is the design of a stability schedule such that a selected subset of samples is tested; The use of a matrixing design

Manufacturing

Information contained in MFs; Processes described within a Master File.

Stability Testing

Primary process described in the guideline; Core activity described in the guidance; General process for evaluating product quality over time; Formal stability studies to assess adjuvant stability; Evaluation of attributes at all storage conditions; The process of evaluating product quality over time under specified conditions.; Evaluation of product quality over time

ICH References (2)

ICH Q1A(R)

Guideline on stability testing used to identify potential impurities.

ICH Q1D

Bracketing and Matrixing Designs for Stability Testing of New Drug Substances and Products

Related MFDS Guidelines

Korean regulatory guidelines covering similar topics

See Also (8)

Q1D Bracketing and Matrixing Designs for Stability Testing of New Drug Substances and Products | Guideline Explorer | BioRegHub