Validation excipients

A brief summary on the quality of excipients is to include information on specifications and their justification, analytical procedures and their validation, excipients of human or animal origin, and novel excipients. 

Analytical methods and specifications must be established and validated so as to define and control the quality and purity of the raw materials, intermediates and the finished product. For many standard chemical raw materials, the development of specifications will not be necessary as they are already published in US and European pharmacopoeia (for example, standards for water, organic solvents and various excipients). The ultimate objective of these activities is to be able to manufacture the drugs required for clinical trials in accordance with good manufacturing practice (GMP). 

Comprehensive physicochemical characterization of any raw material is a crucial and multi-phased requirement for the selection and validation of that matter as a constituent of a product or part of the product development process (Morris et al., 1998). Such demand is especially important in the pharmaceutical industry because of the presence of several compounds assembled in a formulation, such as active substances and excipients, which highlights the importance of compatibility among them. Besides, variations in raw materials due to different sources, periods of extraction and various environmental factors may lead to failures in production and/or in the dosage form performance (Morris et al., 1998). Additionally, economic issues are also related to the need for investigating the physicochemical characteristics of raw materials since those features may determine the most adequate and low-cost material for specific procedures and dosage forms. 

Non-specific absolute assay methods, e.g. volumetric titration, can be applied to avoid the establishment of a reference substance. This is only appropriate, however, when the monograph describes a separation test for related substances. This approach is certainly valid for the determination of the content of pharmaceutical raw materials but less acceptable for the assay of content of pharmaceutical preparations where the employment of specific assay methods is recommended (ICH Guideline 1994) to take account of decomposition of the active ingredient during the shelf life of the product and to avoid possible interference from excipients. 

For nonpharmacopeial materials a full specification should be included in the application. This should include appropriate tests and requirements for physical characteristics, identification, relevant purity tests, and performance-related tests. Characteristics likely to influence bioavailability of the finished product should be controlled. Routine tests and specifications should be described. Methods should be validated. The material should be fully characterized, with full data on the chemistry concerned and including consideration of the safety of the excipient. Any relevant European Directive requirements or other international specifications should be met, but additional requirements might apply depending on the intended use of the product—e.g., for materials to be used in sterile products. 

The validation process begun in Phase I is extended during Phase II. In this phase, selectivity is investigated using various batches of drugs, available impurities, excipients, and samples from stability studies. Accuracy should be determined using at least three levels of concentration, and the intermediate precision and the quantitation limit should be tested. For quality assurance evaluation of the analysis results, control charts can be used, such as the Shewart-charts, the R-charts, or the Cusum-charts. In this phase, the analytical method is refined for routine use. 

The FDA guidance on IVIVC development and validation defines a number of circumstances where an IVIVC can be used to justify a biowaiver request in support of (1) level 3 process changes, (2) complete removal or replacement of non-release-controlling excipients, (3) level 3 changes in release-controlling excipients, (4) approval of lower strengths, and (5) approval of new strengths. Additionally, use of the IVIVC to justify biorelevant dissolution specifications is cited as the optimal approach. 

Because of antibody-based selectivity, ELISAs are capable of handling samples that are impure or only semipurihed. It is possible to perform ELISAs in a variety of matrices. This is in contrast to other methods such as HPLC that require relatively pure material. During the development and validation of the ELISA method, it needs to be demonstrated that the ELISA is not affected by interfering substances that could be in the test sample, such as buffers, salts, contaminating proteins, and excipients. It also needs to be demonstrated that the conjugated antibody does not bind nonspecihcally to the coated solid phase. 

These beyond-use date limits may be exceeded when there is supporting valid scientific stability information that is directly applicable to the specific preparation (i.e., the same drug concentration range, pH, excipients, vehicle, water content, etc.)... 

The extent of revalidation required for formulation changes should be determined on a case-by-case basis. Slight adjustments to the formulation may not require further validation work. This would include an adjustment of the excipient ratios, a change in tablet shape, etc. Specificity and accuracy should be re-evaluated for the inclusion of a new excipient into the formulation (e.g., antioxidants, dyes, preservatives). A change in the formulation such as going from a tablet to a capsule or from a liquid to a solid would mean a significant change to the formulation and complete validation should be performed. 

If the excipients do not interfere with the CE separation, the available drug substance method can also be applied to the drug product without further optimization. This is the most favorable option. Each additional sample preparation step decreases the sample throughput speed, increases the variability of the method, and requires more validation effort. Fortunately CE is a high-efficiency method and interference of excipient peaks with analyte peaks occurs rarely. 

Altria, K. D., Bryant, S. M., and Hadgett, T. A. (1997). Validated capillary electrophoresis method for the analysis of a range of acidic drugs and excipients. ]. Pharm. Biomed. Anal. 15, 1091—1101. 

At the first biennial meeting of the International Conferenee on Harmonization in Brussels in November 1991, the U.S., Japanese, and European Pharmaeopeias presented papers relating to progress being made in harmonization of pharmaeopeial standards for excipients [19]. Other topies, such as stability, validation, impmities. 

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