USFDA Update on Cloud-based Regulatory Assessments
In a recent conference held by the USFDA, Drug Master File (DMF) Workshop: GDUFA III Enhancements and Structured Data Submissions - the FDA discussed two (02) topics, namely -
In a recent conference held by the USFDA, Drug Master File (DMF) Workshop: GDUFA III Enhancements and Structured Data Submissions - the FDA discussed two (02) topics, namely -
Regulatory submissions and publishing tasks have traditionally been laborious involving hours of manual efforts for formatting documents, generating agency-compliant PDFs, doing quality checks, assembling documents for submissions, etc. With the demanding timelines, life science companies always rush for timely submissions. Across the globe, Regulatory bodies are gearing up to adopt recent developments like eCTD v4.0 for dossier submissions, amendments, and other reports.
A multitude of challenges are faced by the Regulatory departments by the move from paper-based to eCTD submissions that continues around the world. Most of the life science companies are struggling hard to keep up with the USFDA standard in using eCTD format and meet the specified deadline. The compulsion of the eCTD format in the US and Canada has enhanced the submission procedure and made it easier by bridging the gap between the time and market which in turn is helping in minimizing expenses on electronic submissions to the pharmaceutical industries.
Since 2003, eCTD has been accepted by several Health Authorities around the world. Its standard has evolved incrementally over time. Based on the Health Level Seven (HL7) standard called RPS (Regulated Product Submission), eCTD 4.0 brings in major changes and introduces certain substantial updates. The updates focus on addressing a few key constraints that both Agencies and sponsors have discovered over the last two (02) decades.
eCTD has turned into a standard norm for industry-wide submissions in a majority of regions across the globe. It provided a single standard for the electronic transmission of submissions data and enabled the industry to communicate and exchange information with Health Authorities harmoniously.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Real-World Data (RWD) and Real-World Evidence (RWE) were essential sources of information for the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to expedite the approvals of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics and to allow other clinical studies to progress under the changing circumstances. For post-approval studies currently, the FDA ensures the appropriate RWD is utilized to create RWE. Such verification ensures good quality, adequate coverage, and suitable simulation of the data gathered in legitimate clinical trials.
Advance Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) are novel drugs that meet patients’ specific needs. But they drastically increase the cost of treatment. Generic alternatives provide relief in terms of treatment cost with a quality drug of similar effectiveness.
In 2023, about fifty-one (51) drugs will get off-patented in the United States, opening the gates for generic drugs to claim a share of the expected expired drugs. Tracking the expiration of these drugs will help assess business opportunities and refine market entry strategies. As a result, pharmaceutical organizations should understand the criticality of Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) submissions and ensure that the documents submitted have additional information about the medicinal product for review by the competent Health Authority.
Over the years, procedures for assembling and filing eCTD submissions have evolved tremendously. Non-adherence to the submission requirements may occur when documents are not relevant to fit seamlessly into the given eCTD format. In such scenarios, applicants are burdened with making last-minute amendments, which cause a delay in submission or, in an extreme case, a technical rejection of the entire submission.
Most life sciences organizations find it difficult to streamline their Regulatory submissions process due to frequent changes in the submission guidelines. According to a recent analysis conducted by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), 32% of submissions with study data had critical data conformance issues. The process necessitates an extensive understanding of collaboration among internal and external stakeholders.