Evaluation Of Marking Technology For Risk Management In The Biopharmaceutical Supply Chain

Amgen is a leader in the biopharmaceutical industry. It manufacturers and provides human therapeutics that drastically improve lives. Amgen's reputation and brand, its goodwill, is an invaluable asset to its ability to succeed in an increasingly competitive landscape. Because of this, risk management, both in manufacturing and in supply chain arenas, are directly linked to continuing long-term sustainable growth. With an increasingly global market and expanding pipelines, biotechnology companies, like Amgen, face a supply chain challenge to manufacture and distribute products using economically feasible methods that ensure patient safety. Preventing product mix-ups plays a key role in ensuring that safety. Marking nude product that moves intra-Amgen or to contract manufacturers will provide a higher level of confidence that the right product is reaching the patient. Several solutions for marking nude vials and syringes immediately rise to the top of the strata of potential technologies. Despite being promising, each technological solution has key unknowns that must be answered by rigorous labscale testing to provide quantitative data to make the best decision on the future of this process within Amgen. Along with the testing, it is clear that the financial landscape of the different solutions varies a great deal. Each potential solution will be analyzed to determine its capital requirements as well as ongoing costs. Lastly, the solution must be realistic to implement into Amgen's current GMP. And thus, each technology will be evaluated as it relates to the overall complexity of implementation into an already tightly controlled process. From a more macroscopic industry perspective, the FDA, as well as other regulatory agencies, has been discussing this issue for several years. Strategically, biotechnology companies are all hesitant to invest in a particular solution at the moment for fear that the FDA will require a different solution in the near term. In reality, biotechnology companies risk billions in R&D and drug development and are therefore, in a way, naturally risk averse when it comes to their processes and operations. Inventory and manufacturing operations are more driven by risk management than by cost. Of course, the important factor to remember is that risk management is a precursor to drug quality and patient safety. The majority of the risks that are controlled are risks that would either prevent environmental contamination of the drugs or affect the quality of the drugs. Altruistic or not, this has profound long term business strategy implications in an ultra-competitive marketplace where another biotechnology firm would certainly oblige taking market share if Amgen were to suffer a reputation ruining event.

Injectable drugs, like those manufactured by the BioPharmOps group of Novartis Pharmaceuticals AG, must conform to strict guidelines for purity and potency. Recent non-conformances of critical supplied consumables have revealed potential business and patient safety risks for biotechnology manufacturers worldwide. As a result, Novartis has launched a program to enhance control systems over all consumables and their suppliers. Within this program, the author has developed a system to identify, analyze, and mitigate the various risks which may impact the business due to non-conformances in supplied consumables. The first function of the system is the identification of key risks and their potential effects according to various failure modes that have been observed during the use of the consumables in production. This is accomplished with a standardized list of possible failure modes which can be applied to all consumables. The categorization allows the relative risk of each failure mode to be compared among consumables. Secondly, the risk of contamination is evaluated using a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) framework. The three dimensions of the FMEA framework are the severity, likelihood, and detectability of a failure. The severity of each failure mode is assessed by analyzing the quantitative and qualitative impact that a failure might have on the purity and potency of the drug. This calculation is based on the properties of each consumable and its use in the production system. The likelihood of failure events is assessed through an analysis of the complexity of the consumable and its supply chain, and a review of the quality systems at the supplier. Detectability analysis considers the tests and inspections in place at various stages including consumable manufacturing, receiving inspection, and in-process tests during drug manufacturing which could detect a non-conformance. The total risk level is evaluated as the product of these three dimensions and a threshold is defined for requiring additional mitigations for these risks. This risk assessment method is implemented in an automated worksheet to ensure consistency among users and efficient analysis. The third outcome of the system is the recommendation of mitigations to reduce total exposure to contamination risk. Mitigations may be internal (new tests and inspections) or implemented at the supplier (improved sampling rates, enhanced general quality systems, or new controls). The recommended mitigations provide guidance for the reduction of risks to an acceptable level, and when implemented, the impact and frequency of non-conformances will be diminished. Ultimately, this reduces Novartis' exposure to potential business loss and protects patients from injury caused by contamination.

For quality professionals and manufacturers in the food safety and medical device industries, risk management is essential to ensuring organizations meet FDA regulations and requirements. Without these recognized standards, the lives of patients and consumers are placed in jeopardy. In this third edition of Quality Risk Management in the FDA-Regulated Industry, Jose Rodriguez-Perez provides an updated view of the risk management field as it applies to FDA-regulated products using risk-based thinking.

This book highlights the challenges facing quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) in today's biopharmaceutical environment and presents the strategic importance and value generated by QA/QC for their involvement in control of manufacturing. It will put into perspective the need for a graded approach to QA/QC from early clinical trials through market approval. Since the first edition published in 2004, there have been more than 50 new regulatory guidances released by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA) and ICH that affect the CMC regulatory compliance of biopharmaceuticals; also the application of biosimilars has been developed in Europe and is under development in the USA. The revised update will be broadened to include not only biopharmaceuticals (biotech drugs) but also other biologics (vaccines, cell therapy, plasma-derived proteins, etc.)

Authoritative guide to the principles, characteristics, engineering aspects, economics, and applications of disposables in the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals The revised and updated second edition of Single-Use Technology in Biopharmaceutical Manufacture offers a comprehensive examination of the most-commonly used disposables in the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals. The authors—noted experts on the topic—provide the essential information on the principles, characteristics, engineering aspects, economics, and applications. This authoritative guide contains the basic knowledge and information about disposable equipment. The author also discusses biopharmaceuticals’ applications through the lens of case studies that clearly illustrate the role of manufacturing, quality assurance, and environmental influences. This updated second edition revises existing information with recent developments that have taken place since the first edition was published. The book also presents the latest advances in the field of single-use technology and explores topics including applying single-use devices for microorganisms, human mesenchymal stem cells, and T-cells. This important book: • Contains an updated and end-to-end view of the development and manufacturing of single-use biologics • Helps in the identification of appropriate disposables and relevant vendors • Offers illustrative case studies that examine manufacturing, quality assurance, and environmental influences • Includes updated coverage on cross-functional/transversal dependencies, significant improvements made by suppliers, and the successful application of the single-use technologies Written for biopharmaceutical manufacturers, process developers, and biological and chemical engineers, Single-Use Technology in Biopharmaceutical Manufacture, 2nd Edition provides the information needed for professionals to come to an easier decision for or against disposable alternatives and to choose the appropriate system.

Supply chains in the pharmaceutical industry are growing increasingly more complex and expanding their geographic reach both in manufacturing production and to the end consumer, the patient. Physical development, manufacturing and distribution of these drugs, both of biologics and small molecules, is extremely technical in science and processes. Additionally, the industry is highly regulated with nuanced requirements that vary by country of origin and consumption, adding complexity to the drug development process. For these reasons, companies are pushing for longer range planning and forecasting of their drug pipelines, beginning the process earlier for drugs that are in pre-clinical phases of production in order to adequately plan for capacity in manufacturing and distribution. Working with data on a number of small molecules across different lines of treatment in the drug development pipeline, a discrete event simulation model was developed to simulate production quantity outputs given varying levels of stochastic parameters such as drug dosage, treatment duration, patient population, patient compliance, and competitive market share. Results from the simulations were used to assess manufacturing capacity risk given capacity and resource capabilities. The outputs of the model built in this thesis can be used to better inform capacity planning decisions for these early stage molecules.

Sets forth tested and proven risk management practices in drug manufacturing Risk management is essential for safe and efficient pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing, control, and distribution. With this book as their guide, readers involved in all facets of drug manufacturing have a single, expertly written, and organized resource to guide them through all facets of risk management and analysis. It sets forth a solid foundation in risk management concepts and then explains how these concepts are applied to drug manufacturing. Risk Management Applications in Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing features contributions from leading international experts in risk management and drug manufacturing. These contributions reflect the latest research, practices, and industry standards as well as the authors' firsthand experience. Readers can turn to the book for: Basic foundation of risk management principles, practices, and applications Tested and proven tools and methods for managing risk in pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical product manufacturing processes Recent FDA guidelines, EU regulations, and international standards governing the application of risk management to drug manufacturing Case studies and detailed examples demonstrating the use and results of applying risk management principles to drug product manufacturing Bibliography and extensive references leading to the literature and helpful resources in the field With its unique focus on the application of risk management to biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical manufacturing, this book is an essential resource for pharmaceutical and process engineers as well as safety and compliance professionals involved in drug manufacturing.

Risk is of fundamental importance in this era of the global economy. Supply chains must into account the uncertainty of demand. Moreover, the risk of uncertain demand can cut two ways: (1) there is the risk that unexpected demand will not be met on time, and the reverse problem (2) the risk that demand is over estimated and excessive inventory costs are incurred. There are other risks in unreliable vendors, delayed shipments, natural disasters, etc. In short, there are a host of strategic, tactical and operational risks to business supply chains. Supply Chain Risk: A Handbook of Assessment, Management, and Performance will focus on how to assess, evaluate, and control these various risks.

On July 30-31, 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop titled Continuous Manufacturing for the Modernization of Pharmaceutical Production. This workshop discussed the business and regulatory concerns associated with adopting continuous manufacturing techniques to produce biologics such as enzymes, monoclonal antibodies, and vaccines. The participants also discussed specific challenges for integration across the manufacturing system, including upstream and downstream processes, analytical techniques, and drug product development. The workshop addressed these challenges broadly across the biologics domain but focused particularly on drug categories of greatest FDA and industrial interest such as monoclonal antibodies and vaccines. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.