Validation process procedures

D.L. and J.T. Payne, Validate Process Data Automatically, Chemical Engineering, June 1992, 112-116). If a measurement is clearly inconsistent with equipment operation that is known to be true, the measurement must then be deemed suspect. Vahdation is the procedure of comparing a measurement to one or more of the following. 

Quality system regulation The past good manufacturing practice (GMP) and process validation (PV) was renamed to quality system regulation (QSR). It is important for the medical device industry (that uses an extensive amount of plastics) and also in other product industries where they want to follow strict processing procedures. It sets up an important procedure for many plastic fabricators to consider that targets to ensure meeting zero defects. 

Production - follow procedures, record deviations, prevent mix-up, validate processes... 

GLP regulations require QA personnel to inspect/audit each study conducted, but the extent to which QA personnel are involved in software development and the val-idation/verification process varies from company to company. In some companies, there is little or no QA involvement in these processes, whereas in others QA personnel are involved. QA personnel can provide assistance in the area of vendor audits for purchased software or can conduct inspections of in-house software development to ensure that internal procedures are being followed. QA personnel, who conduct in-process inspections and review the resulting data and validation report for accuracy, could provide inspection support during the validation and verification process. During system development and validation, properly trained QA personnel can provide the regulatory advice needed to ensure that the system will meet government standards. QA personnel become more familiar with the system(s) that will be used when they are involved early in the validation process. 

For /-Advantage, more extensive field site verification is conducted. A field site notebook is used which verifies every step in the data entry process. Following this procedure, a form is completed and returned to American Agricultural Services, Inc. (AASI), where the form is checked to ensure that verification was properly conducted and documented. This verification takes approximately 2 h to perform. Documentation and verification may require a visit to AASI to confirm that the validation process has been completed and is adequately documented. 

One aspect of specimen analysis that often occurs and should be highlighted is the situation that arises when a study has been initiated (protocol has been signed), but the analytical procedure has not yet been determined or worked out, or perhaps has not been fully validated by the performing laboratory. In this case, the approved protocol should fully describe the situation, and once the method has been developed and/or validated an approved protocol amendment should be issued, thus formalizing the inclusion of the analytical methodology. Likewise, during the validation process or during the study itself, if there is an analytical method modification then the protocol also needs to be formally amended. 

Selectivity and specificity are important performance characteristics of analytical procedures, especially in connection with validation processes. Nevertheless, both terms are used mostly verbal and a quantification is avoided, as a rule (IUPAC see Vessman et al. [2001]). Moreover, the concepts of selectivity and specificity are used interchangeably and synonymously. Occasionally, specificity is regarded as an intensification of selectivity, viz. the ultimate of selectivity (den Boef and Hulanicki [1983] Persson and Vessman [1998, 2001] Prichard et al. [2001]). 

In addition to equipment, many processes/procedures undertaken during pharmaceutical manufacture are also subject to periodic validation studies. Validation of biopharmaceutical aseptic hlling procedures is amongst the most critical. The aim is to prove that the aseptic procedures devised are capable of delivering a sterile bnished product, as intended. 

For more comprehensive validation studies, the molecular mass profile of the DNA spike should roughly approximate to the molecular mass range of endogenous contaminant DNA in the crude product. Obviously, the true DNA clearance rate attained by downstream processing procedures (e.g. gel filtration) will depend to some extent on the molecular mass characteristics of the contaminant DNA. 

Simulation procedure 4 is basically a calibration of the sewer process model for aerobic microbial transformations as described in the matrix formulation (Table 5.3). Both the biofilm processes and the reaeration are included. Initial values for the components and process parameters for this simulation originate from the sample taken at the upstream sewer station. When simulated values of the downstream COD components are acceptable, i.e., approaching the corresponding measured values, the calibration procedure is successfully completed. The major model parameters to be included in the calibration process are those relevant for the biofilm, especially km and K. After calibration, the model is ready for a successive validation process and later use in practice. 

Water system Cleaning practices Computer validation Process validation Test methods validation Sterilization procedures Stability evaluation... 

This chapter defines the terms, responsibilities, requirements and recommended procedures involved in pre-installation, installation qualification (IQ), operational qualification (OQ) and performance qualification (PQ), which are all part of a typical HPLC system validation process. As the FDA does not publish a definitive reference or cookbook for these procedures, the suggestions herein are only recommendations. These have been successfully incorporated into formal standard operating procedures (SOPs) that have been implemented at a number of larger pharmaceutical establishments. As long as proper SOPs... 

If it has not been already completed, the first recommended task is to establish/designate a validation team within the company—perhaps one snch team at each of mnltiple sites. If one elects to have a separate team at mnltiple sites, these teams mnst make certain that they carry ont the validation processes consistently across all sites. In larger corporations, this is often accomplished via a central validation committee managing the individnal gronps at the varions sites. For smaller companies a team may consist of only one individual. The goal of the team(s)/committee is to draft comprehensive validation plans and protocols across all the instrnments, systems and processes that reqnire validation. They must then diligently execnte, document and verify each validation procedure. 

HPLC methods can usually be transferred without many modifications, since most commercially available HPLC instruments behave similarly. This is certainly true when the columns applied have a similar selectivity. One adaptation, sometimes needed, concerns the gradient profiles, because of different instrumental or pump dead-volumes. However, larger differences exist between CE instruments, e.g., in hydrodynamic injection procedures, in minimum capillary lengths, in capillary distances to the detector, in cooling mechanisms, and in the injected sample volumes. This makes CE method transfers more difficult. Since robustness tests are performed to avoid transfer problems, these tests seem even more important for CE method validation, than for HPLC method validation. However, in the literature, a robustness test only rarely is included in the validation process of a CE method, and usually only linearity, precision, accuracy, specificity, range, and/or limits of detection and quantification are evaluated. Robustness tests are described in references 20 and 59-92. Given the instrumental transfer problems for CE methods, a robustness test guaranteeing to some extent a successful transfer should include besides the instrument on which the method was developed at least one alternative instrument. 

When the validation process is complete document the procedures of the method (also important for auditing and evaluation purposes)... 

Validation Validation was defined in Section 3. It is the process of evaluating a method, an instrument or other piece of equipment, a standard material, etc. to determine whether it is appropriate for the work at hand and whether it will meet all expectations and needs for a given analysis. For example, an analyst may propose that a new gas chromatograph, one that has a new design of electron capture detector, be used for a certain pesticide analysis performed in the laboratory. A validation process would involve testing the new instrument (alongside the unit currently used in the procedure) with standards and samples used in the analysis to validate whether the new unit will perform up to the standards that have been set for the work. If it can be documented that the quality of the overall analysis by the new instrument meets expectations, then it can be brought "online."... 

In addition to equipment, many processes/procedures undertaken during pharmaceutical manufacture are also subject to periodic validation studies. Validation of biopharmaceutical... 

In many companies, the scale-up process may include or overlap with the validation process. In any case, demonstration of the process in the production environment at full scale, using the materials, equipment, procedures, and personnel established in production, is required. Often, multidisciplinary teams are arranged to manage the scale-up, and the overall roles and responsibilities for those involved with the product may change. Typically, extensive documentation, including protocols and reports, is involved, as... 

Installation Qualification After equipment selection, it is necessary to assure that the equipment is installed well. The IQ document describes and validates the procedure of the equipment installation. It establishes confidence that the process equipment and ancillary systems are capable of consistently operating within established limits and tolerances [10]. The equipment manufacturer and pharmaceutical company must agree and check the IQ, which must be approved by the pharmaceutical company at the end. This document certifies that equipment was installed as specified by the manufacturer and the purchaser. 

Different approaches may be used to validate the sample preparation component of the dissolution test. However, it is important to understand that the objective of validation is to demonstrate that the procedure is suitable for its intended purpose. For example, one of the strategies will demonstrate the validity of different aspects of sample preparation during method development (prior to the formal method validation exercise). As a result, the final validation experiments will confirm the work done during method development. The strategy that will be followed for the method development and validation process will depend on the culture, expertise, and strategy of the analytical laboratory. 

Compliance with the FDA guidance can be considered a minimum requirement to test the performance of a bioanalytical method. Due to the fact that the validation process should simulate closely sample analysis, the real and decisive final test for a validated method will always be the sample analysis itself. It is possible that even if it passes all the validation criteria, a bioanalytical method may not be reliable for the analysis of actual samples. This undesirable situation could happen when actual samples (in vivo samples) contain new interferences not present in the spiked samples (in vitro samples) due to a metabolic process and/or other biotransformations. For this reason, bioanalytical laboratories could decide to use more stringent criteria and procedures and/or use actual sample during the method development to further guarantee the validity of the validated methods. 

Scale-up ensuring that installation qualification, operational qualification, performance qualification (IQ/OQ/PQ) activities are properly conducted These include cleaning validation, process validation, sterilization validation, and so forth, according to established corporate procedures. 

In the last few years, we have seen the application of isotope dilution methodologies to some new analytical fields. One of these is elemental speciation , where the aim is to determine individual chemical species in which an element is distributed in a given sample. IDMS has also proved its usefulness in element speciation, in which either species-specific or species-unspecific spikes can be used. For example, species-specific IDMS is nowadays used in several laboratories as an effective tool to validate analytical procedures for speciation and to investigate and document eventual interconversion between species. In addition, the study of induced variations in the isotopic composition of a target element can also provide insight into various (bio)chemical and physical processes isotopic analysis is, therefore, also of increasing importance in biological studies. 

As described in Table 5, each manufacturer shall then establish and maintain procedures for monitoring and controlling process parameters for validated processes. To ensure that each manufacturing condition is maintained adequately, it is necessary to ensure the control parameters of the operating machinery. The control parameters should include the operation speed, operation pressure, operation temperature, and electrical current of the machinery during operation. 

Each manufacturer shall establish and maintain procedures for monitoring and control of process parameters for validated processes to ensure the specified requirements continue to be met. 

Qualification Verification. Again, the process validation protocol should reference all items that support the validation the procedures, personnel, methods, and equipment. This section therefore lists and summarizes the various installation, operational, and performance/process qualifications completed for the equipment used in the process validation. These qualifications should list each by equipment name and number and qualification and type. A typical verification section is illustrated below. 

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