As a quality consultant and quality system subject matter expert in the Life Sciences Industry for over 25 years, I have worked for many pharmaceutical companies both large and small and as a consultant with many clients in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device industries. These clients possess a range of experience in software validation—from … Continued
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set May 5, 2018 as the compliance date for submitting many types of files—Drug Master File (DMFs) and commercial investigational new drugs (INDs)—in the electronic Common Technical Document (eCTD) format. A DMF provides confidential, detailed information about facilities, processes, or articles used in the manufacturing, processing, packaging, … Continued
There are numerous challenges in developing oncology drugs: (1) they are often very toxic which precludes conducting clinical trials in healthy volunteers, (2) the PK of a drug may be altered in cancer patients due to demographic and physiological differences as compared to healthy volunteers, and (3) cancer patients face elevated drug-drug interaction (DDI) risk … Continued
Modeling and simulation (M&S) of complex systems has primarily advanced vertically in differing scientific domains with a variety of domain-specific approaches and applications. The pharmacology to payer (P2P) concept is a way to connect independent domains to address drug development market failures. As an initial proof of concept, we collaborated with a team of clinical pharmacologists, … Continued
Narratives are an essential part of any programs’ story, but often become cumbersome due to the many challenges of narrative writing. A large narrative project is typically divided into several stages, within which each individual function typically works within a certain pre-defined budget, set of tasks, and labor allocation silo: The biostatistics group produces Tables, … Continued
The ability to estimate systemic exposure from dermal absorption is essential in developing new dermatological medications or assessing the toxicological liability of commercially-used chemicals. Historically, animal models were used to evaluate dermal drug absorption prior to clinical testing. However, both differences in human and animal physiology as well as ethical concerns over animal testing have … Continued
Analogous to how a geologist surveys the “lay of the land” to determine if oil lies underneath, or an investment advisor strives to understand the “lay of the land” to decide how to invest in a turbulent market, sponsors and regulators also need to determine how to best utilize and report modeling and simulation results … Continued
The tragedy of thalidomide provides a cautionary tale about the potential for birth defects resulting from fetal exposure to drugs. Thalidomide was used to treat morning sickness in pregnant women. By the time it was banned in 1962, more than 10,000 children had been born with thalidomide-induced birth defects. “Phocomelia,” wherein babies were born with … Continued
Do you get anxious about taking tests? Many people do because they want to show their best efforts. Submitting your New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA can be thought of as the ultimate test of a drug program. Are you confident that you’ll have robust answers to the 40 different questions that the agency … Continued
As a veterinarian, I’m responsible for the health and welfare of my animal patients. Sometimes, drugs are used to treat animals that are being raised for food (e.g., meat and milk). Therefore, tissue residues are a unique concern in veterinary medicine because indirect exposure to drugs and their metabolites through eating meat or milk could … Continued
