Guidance Documents

This updated Guide offers comprehensive guidance on designing and operating pharmaceutical water storage and distribution systems that utilize ozone for sanitization. It outlines key principles for implementing an effective sanitization approach. Using ozone as the primary sanitizing agent in a pharmaceutical water distribution system offers a wide range of operating and cost advantages. Their significance varies depending upon the site and project. Like all sanitization methods, ozone technology imposes specific requirements on system design and operation.

This Guide aims to clarify GMP HVAC issues that are critical to the safety, identity, strength, purity, and quality of pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals, advanced therapy medicinal products, and medical devices, from raw materials to finished products. It covers HVAC control and monitoring requirements and addresses GEP issues related to sustainability, economics, and environmental health and safety. The Guide provides best practices for implementing international regulatory and industry guidance, with appendices containing industry examples and templates for the reader’s reference.

The ISPE Guide: 503A Compounding – Regulatory Basis and Industry Good Practices for Pharmacies provides an overview of FDA regulations and guidance necessary for conducting safe compounding to help pharmacies understand the requirements of FD&C Act Section 503A. In addition, the ISPE Guide outlines the authority of State Boards of Pharmacy and their coordination of oversight with the FDA.

This Guide focuses primarily on allogeneic cell therapies, specifically manufacturing facility development and design. Allogeneic cell therapies have unique challenges due to the small manufacturing scale, limitations in scale-up, the need to manufacture multiple lots of products concurrently, and the need for flexibility to accommodate a varied and evolving product portfolio. This Guide covers common challenges with allogeneic cell therapy facilities, design concepts specific to allogeneic cell therapy facilities, and GMP layout and architectural design development. Key aspects of the allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing process, including sampling, QC, and process understanding, are presented.

The biopharmaceutical industry has adapted to reflect available technologies such as single-use technologies and modular construction methodologies, products with more focused patient populations, evolving regulatory conditions, unrelenting pressures on costs, and increased focus on robust product supply while maintaining high-quality standards. This Guide presents concepts that reflect how these changes affect biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities without sacrificing product quality, by reducing risk and enhancing the manufacturing control strategy.

The ISPE Guide: 503B Compounding – Regulatory Basis and Industry Good Practices for Outsourcing Facilities aims to help facilities understand the FD&C Act Section 503B requirements. This ISPE Guide combines FDA regulations and recommendations with pharmaceutical industry standards, providing a go-to document for any size 503B facility. The compounding process is covered, from the importance of CGMPs to establishing a Quality system (including qualifying suppliers and vendors), receipt of raw materials/active ingredients, and shipping of the finished drug product.

The ISPE Good Practice Guide: Knowledge Management in the Pharmaceutical Industry places an emphasis on tacit knowledge – often referred to as know-how and know-why. A systematic KM program that manages tacit knowledge is a powerful tool to help maximize knowledge awareness and minimize knowledge loss that can threaten business continuity. This Guide aims to highlight the importance and impact of tacit knowledge, and where appropriate, provide KM methods and tools to better recognize, capture, transfer, and apply tacit knowledge. ICH Q10 outlines three objectives: achieve product realization, establish and maintain a state of control, and facilitate continual improvement. Embracing these objectives can be best achieved using the dual enablers, Knowledge Management (KM) and Quality Risk Management (QRM).

The GAMP® Good Practice Guide: A Risk-Based Approach to Calibration Management (Second Edition) provides guidance in setting up a calibration management system, which will give a structured approach to instrument risk assessment, calibration program management, documentation, and corrective actions, essential to regulatory compliance.