NEW AUTHORITIES
FDA enforcement action may gain from additional tools for monitoring manufacturing activities. The FDA Safety and Innovation
Act (FDASIA) is "changing the enforcement landscape," said Douglas Stearn, deputy director for policy and analysis in the
Office of Compliance of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the FDLI December conference. A key FDASIA provision
(section 711) specifies that manufacturers must comply with cGMPs, including quality controls and assurance of raw material
safety, to avoid product adulteration.
Added FDASIA provisions for dealing with drug shortages and other manufacturing issues are "a big deal for all of us," added
Mary Malarkey, director of the Office of Compliance and Biologics Quality in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research
(CBER), during the FDLI conference. Recent CBER cases have led to criminal charges against manufacturers of unapproved and
adulterated HIV test kits and actions to halt production and sales of misbranded stem-cell products that provided little benefit
to desperate patients.
FDASIA also requires manufactures to report to the agency if a drug is stolen or counterfeited and imposes stiffer penalties
and jail terms for intentional drug adulteration or counterfeiting. And on the international front, the legislation authorizes
FDA inspectors to access records at foreign plants prior to an inspection. Drug quality should be a corporate commitment and
taken seriously by upper management, Stearn said, adding that FDA wants "companies to address these issues early."
The need for adequate controls to ensure quality production "is not a new concept," commented attorney Cathy Burgess of Alston
and Bird, at the FDLI conference. Yet compliance with GMPs remains "the bane of every company's existence," she said, noting
that drug shortages have been triggered by quality problems and that manufacturers often can't determine the root causes of
stability failures. Under FDASIA, moreover, ensuring control of suppliers of raw materials is of particular importance.
Hospira's recent history was discussed at the FDLI conference to relate the challenges for a company under pressure to make
dramatic changes in GMP compliance to address widespread quality failures at several production sites. Quintiles senior director
Mike Leavitt, working as a consultant to Hospira, described how multiple warning letters and failed inspections have prompted
a major remediation initiative at Hospira's North Carolina production plant under an approach somewhat like a "self-imposed
consent decree." Yet despite new corporate management and an in-house quality team under recently appointed Senior Vice-President
Zena Kaufman, Hospira continues to face compliance issues. It received a warning letter in August 2012 for problems at a medical
device plant located in Costa Rica, and visible particulate matter in Carboplatin injection prompted a recall of three lots
in November 2012. A formal consent decree is expected, despite outlays on remediation of nearly $250 million, with another
$100 million in spending expected.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
The visible rise in outsourcing of drug manufacturing and in foreign facilities supplying the US market is prompting FDA compliance
officials to focus more on international and supply-chain issues. The agency is conducting more inspections of foreign producers
that will increase with added resources from the Generic Drug User Fee Act (GDUFA), Stearn noted. He cited more warning letters
involving cGMP issues at foreign facilities, many listing failures to maintain required reports and records and to establish
appropriate production and process controls. FDA urges foreign manufacturers to create independent quality units and to do
more to meet GMP standards.
FDA officials, however, realize they will never have enough resources to monitor all the manufacturers and suppliers to the
US market and thus are looking to more collaborative enforcement efforts to extend their global oversight of manufacturing
compliance. FDA, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and other regulatory authorities are continuing a program to share information
on inspections of API makers and have launched a project for exchanging reports to reduce overlapping inspections for finished
drug products. A mutual reliance pilot with EMA and an initiative to share bioequivalence data are in the works, as are projects
to establish a common regulatory database with China and a roadmap for global medical product quality and supply-chain integrity
with other Asian nations.
These efforts will help FDA better target its inspection and compliance resources, while obtaining information needed to bring
enforcement actions. FDA officials say that they much prefer that manufacturers comply with quality standards and meet reporting
requirements without the threat of penalties, but they welcome the added tools to help compel compliance when necessary.
Jill Wechsler is BioPharm International's Washington editor, Chevy Chase, MD, 301.656.4634, jwechsler@advanstar.com
. Read Jill's blogs at http://PharmTech.com/wechsler/
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