Pharmaceuticals process validation objective

On satisfactory completion of the computer system qualifications, with PQ conducted in conjunction with a successful process validation, a final report must be prepared by the pharmaceutical manufacturer s validation team. This is normally referred to as the validation report. The objective of the report is to give an overview of the results of the execution of the validation program for the computerized operation and to draw a conclusion as to the suitability of the computerized operation for pharmaceutical manufacturing. This may be unconditional use or there may be restrictions. In the latter case the proposed remedial ac-tion(s) must be approved and, as applicable, considered under change control. A schedule to complete any outstanding actions must be documented and progress formally reported. 

It should be evident that concurrent validation is especially useful as a QA tool. This approach to validation is useful to QA because it enables QA to set its own objectives as criteria for PV. For example, QA seeks to have every process validated. Most pharmaceutical products contain one or two active ingredients. Process validation is very straightforward for them however, a whole new situation exists for a multivitamin/multimineral product. Innovative techniques are thus needed to achieve adequate validation. 

The synthetic process proceeding under physiological conditions can be imitated in vitro with the object of establishing the validity of biogenetic hypotheses (293) as well as finding new potential routes for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals (294). 

Pharmaceutical sites will usually create a dedicated team of validation specialists to coordinate all validation activities. They should operate according to a validation master plan that has been developed using risk analysis to identify the most critical systems requiring validation/re-validation. Before validating a system or process, a written protocol should be prepared that describes the system, the critical aspects, the objectives, the test methods and the acceptance criteria that will be applied. A validation report should be prepared on completion of each protocol. 

A fundamental objective of a computer system applied to automate a pharmaceutical GMP operation is to ensure the quality attributes of the drug product are upheld throughout the manufacturing process. It is therefore important that quality-critical parameters are determined and approved early in the validation life cycle. The exercise should be undertaken to a written procedure with base information from the master product/production record file examined and quality-critical parameter values and limits documented and approved for the process and its operation. In addition, the process and instrument diagrams (P IDs) should be reviewed to confirm the measurement and control components that have a direct impact on the quality-critical parameters and data. This exercise should be carried out by an assessment team made up of user representatives with detailed knowledge of both the computer system application and process, and with responsibility for product quality, system operational use, maintenance, and project implementation. This exercise may be conducted as part of an initial hazard and operability study (HAZOP) and needs to confirm the quality-related critical parameters for use in (or referenced by) the computer control system URS. 

Regulatory professionals too often assume that any analytical method can undergo the steps necessary to validate its use in marketing a pharmaceutical product. In many cases the need for validation of a particular analytical method is often revealed late in the drug development process by corporate regulatory and quality assurance (QA) professionals who are responsible for compliance with the regulatory requirements associated with product registration. Commonly these individuals view the requirements and parameters of the validation processes as independent of the actual analytical chemistry and technical objective of the method itself. 

A number of valid reasons have prompted the research-oriented chemical industry to invest substantial resources into the effort to dramatically increase the evaluation efficiency of new chemical entities. The objective is to optimize rapidity and cost in the early phases of the process, leading to the identification of compounds with promising properties for further development into commercial products (typically pharmaceuticals or agrochemicals). In drug discovery, the wealth of new molecular targets with therapeutic potential is bound to increase, due to the efforts to understand the mechanisms of diseases and due to the data retrieved from genomics [1, 2],... 

The preparation of any pharmaceutical product requires controls over the production operations to assure the end result is a product that meets the required quality attributes. The methods utilized for this control are supported by formalized validation studies in which proof of consistency is demonstrated by appropriately designed experiments. The definition of appropriate operating parameters is the primary objective of the development activities and is further confirmed during scale-up to commercial operations. The validation supports that the routine controls applied to the process are appropriate to assure product quality [36], This is typically accomplished in formalized validation activities in which expanded sampling/testing of the product materials is performed to substantiate their uniformity and suitability for use [30],... 

Elucidation of how the general principles underlying the concept of validation should be expressed in practice is an evolving process, as exemplified by the ongoing evolution of validation requirements for bioanalytical assays in the pharmaceutical industry (Shah 1992, 2000 FDA 2001 Viswanathan 2007). The complementary principle of fitness for purpose (Section 9.2) applies not only to the assay method but also to the validation process itself. Procedures that are considered to be fit for purpose in validation of an analytical method to be used in drug development, for example, need not necessarily apply to, e.g., methods used to screen pesticide residues in foodstuffs. As noted in Section 9.2, this point of view appears to be consistent with the definition of validation applied to all measurements (ISO 1994) Validation Confirmation by examination and provision of objective evidence that the particular requirements for a specified intended use are fulfilled. Of course, some basic principles are common to all validation schemes. 

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