eCTD submissions are one of the key steps in the development of pharmaceuticals. What if you miss your product launch due to a delay in eCTD submissions? The cost of lost opportunity per day delay in the product launch is expected to be in the millions. Subsequently, the cost of non-compliance to the Health Authority (HA) timelines and regulations is huge. With the fast-approaching submission deadlines for multiple products in their portfolio, life science companies often struggle to efficiently plan, execute, and track their submission activities.

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.

The medical device industry is undergoing continuous transformation to comply with the ever-changing Regulatory guidelines introduced by global Regulatory authorities to ensure strict controls over device performance and safety. In such a scenario, having a better understanding of the medical devices, Regulatory Affairs, and updated Regulatory information to design and implement a strategy can result in reduced costs, time-to-market, and maximum compliance.

Pharmaceutical professionals in the Regulatory space face complicated, rigorous, and ever-evolving requirements for the Regulatory approval of products in any market. But as technology advances, our ability to obtain data from other sources also changes. The amount of data in the Life Sciences industry is rising exponentially. The rise of the required information within Regulatory submissions occurs due to the fact that patients can have safer and more effective treatments coming into the market.

Life sciences is a highly regulated industry, full of sensitive information that is required to be maintained efficiently. Documents are the backbone of any life sciences segment since it establishes the quality of processes and assurance of safety. The growing volume of documents in organizations exponentially increases the demand to replace traditional and manual documentation practices to reduce time, effort, and errors. In such scenarios, the absence of a proper Document Management System (DMS) increases the chance of misplacing critical documents and tracking changes significantly.

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.

In September 2022, the USFDA released a revised technical conformance guide for electronic Common Technical Document (eCTD) v4.0. The guide provides specifications, recommendations, and general considerations while submitting eCTD-based electronic submissions to the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) or the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). The guide also implements the electronic submission requirements of Section 745A(a) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act).