Drug development clinical phase

However, compared with the traditional analytical methods, the adoption of chromatographic methods represented a signihcant improvement in pharmaceutical analysis. This was because chromatographic methods had the advantages of method specihcity, the ability to separate and detect low-level impurities. Specihcity is especially important for methods intended for early-phase drug development when the chemical and physical properties of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) are not fully understood and the synthetic processes are not fully developed. Therefore the assurance of safety in clinical trials of an API relies heavily on the ability of analytical methods to detect and quantitate unknown impurities that may pose safety concerns. This task was not easily performed or simply could not be carried out by classic wet chemistry methods. Therefore, slowly, HPLC and GC established their places as the mainstream analytical methods in pharmaceutical analysis. 

In Table 1, the typical validation parameters required for the different types of analytical procedures are listed. For all these analytical procedures CE might be an appropriate analytical technique. In fact numerous validated CE methods for pharmaceutical analysis have been described in literature during the last decade.In Table 2, an overview is listed of the ICH validation parameters included in several reported CE validation studies. Since chiral purity determination is an important application area of CE methods, this test is listed separately as a specific analytical procedure. In addition, the determination of drug counterions has been included as a separate application. This overview illustrates that in general the required validation parameters are addressed in reported CE validation studies. It should be noted, however, that the validation parameters included in Table 2 are not necessarily evaluated exactly according ICH requirements in the reported references. Many pharmaceutical companies apply a phase-related validation approach in which the depth of validation depends on the clinical phase of development of the product involved. 

The partition coefficient and aqueous solubility are properties important for the study of the adsorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADME-Tox) of drugs. The prediction of the ADME-Tox properties of drug candidates has recently attracted much interest because these properties account for the failure of about 60 % of all drug candidates in the clinical phases. The prediction of these properties in an early phase of the drug development process could therefore lead to significant savings in research and development costs. 

The majority of non-clinical studies are undertaken in the pre-clinical phase of drug development. These studies serve both to guide the developer and satisfy the regulatory authorities. The objectives of this phase can be summarised as follows ... 

Safety and quality aspects are the main topics that must be addressed from a regulatory perspective at the pre-clinical phase of drug development. Indicative efficacy data will also be obtained, but authoritative data can be obtained only from clinical studies conducted with humans. Safety and preliminary efficacy indications... 

Liposomes have been studied to improve the ocular availability of drugs after application to the eye or after intravitreal injection. Besides, a liposomal eye drop formulation for the treatment of dry eye symptoms was developed and entered the clinical phase II stage (Guo et al., 1988). 

Product specification documents and analytical test methods—In preclinical development, these are important documents and they evolve along with the development phases. Drug substances and products for clinical trials are tested based on these documents, and so are the stability samples. It is critical to ensure that the analyst will perform the right tests against the right specifications with the correct version of the test method. Therefore a mechanism must be in place to control these documents. This can be done manually or with TIMS. A manually controlled system would require the analyst to sign out hard copies of the documents from a central location. After the testing is done, the analyst would have to return these controlled documents to the... 

Stability of a drug substance and product is monitored throughout the development and clinical phases. This monitoring requires stability-indicating assay methodology, and this is a subject that is separate from performulation per se. In most instances, the major, feasible decomposition products are identified early [51], and as such it is known if the pathways are hydrolytic, oxidative, or photochemical. 

R D Focus. This database service [66] provides information on over 7000 drugs in active development. The service monitors the development, efficacy, and status of pharmaceuticals from early clinical testing through to launch. Data are gathered through direct contact with manufacturers and research organizations. It appraises both the scientific and commercial aspects of drug development and is searchable by product, by phase, by mechanism of action, and by country. R D Focus product is commercially available in several formats. 

The data and information about an individual drug developed through Phase I, II, and III studies are extremely important to the medical community. For many drugs Phase I, II, and III data may be all, or nearly all, that is available about the clinical use of the drug at the time the product is marketed. During the time the product is in Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III, some of the compound s product and clinical data may be presented at professional meetings, published in preliminary reports, or otherwise made available to the scientific and business communities. However, it is not uncommon for a drug to be approved by FDA without the presence of its clinical research in the published biomedical literature. 

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