ISPE Mourns the Loss Joseph X. Phillips

ISPE mourns the loss of our close friend and senior Society advisor, Joseph X. Phillips, who passed away on 13 April. Phillips was 73 years old.

Through his dedicated service to ISPE, including his most recent role as International Regulatory Affairs Advisor, Phillips was pivotal in leading ISPE in its global initiatives and worked tirelessly behind the scenes to facilitate key relationships with regulators and industry leaders around the world. His vast and valuable contributions to ISPE will benefit Members and industry for many years to come.

Phillips had a distinguished career with the US Food and Drug Administration for 44 years. He ended his career in the position of Deputy Regional Director of the Agency’s Central Region. He was heavily involved in training of FDA Investigators and in planning and managing pharmaceutical programs including the Pre-Approval Inspection program and the SUPAC (Scale-Up and Post Approval Changes) for field operations. Phillips was a principal negotiator for the US/EU Mutual Recognition Agreement and was the FDA Lead to the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) Expert Working Group for GMP Guidance for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (ICH Q7A).

Phillips joined ISPE in 2003 as Regulatory Affairs Advisor, the same year he was appointed as a special government employee to the FDA’s Pharmaceutical Science Advisory Committee that is involved in the agency’s “Risk-Based Approach to Pharmaceutical cGMPs for the 21st Century” initiative. Phillips was a founding member of ISPE’s Product Quality Lifecycle Implementation (PQLI) initiative and was a strategic advisor to Society President/CEO Bob Best.

“I have long subscribed to the theory that no one is irreplaceable,” said ISPE President Bob Best. “Joe Phillips is an exception to that rule. I have never met a nicer, kinder human being than Joe Phillips. He was truly loved by people all over the world. And the list of his contributions, both as a long-time representative of the FDA, and later for ISPE, is enormous. This was truly a “great” man in every sense of that word.”

Phillips is survived by his wife, Dolores, and sons Joe and John. Joe Jr. followed in his father's footsteps and works for GlaxoSmithKline as Investigator, Chemical Development Pilot Plant Technical Support.