November 13, 2009 By:Bob Flinton
As a pharmaceutical or biotechnology organization, your formulas, treatments and clinical findings are the "lifeblood" of your business. But if you aren't protecting the integrity of your scientific data in your lab informatics systems, you risk losing ownership, revenue and consequently your business if you can't prove time-of-creation and authenticity. Learn how you can implement simple, cost-effective, and automated controls to protect your scientific intellectual property.
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November 13, 2009 By:Tim Freeman
Selecting the best material of construction is a crucial part of the plant design process, the aim being to balance performance and cost to best advantage. For powder processors, choosing a material that eases flow can pay dividends throughout the lifetime of the plant, but there is limited data on which to base this decision. A recent study by Freeman Technology highlights the role of the FT4 universal powder tester for such studies and provides some valuable comparative data for a wide range of commercially available materials and finishes.
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October 29, 2009 By:Nathan T. Whitford
The USP General Chapter <467> on Residual Solvents became effective on July 1, 2008. Alternate methods may need to be developed and validated for compounds and any other unlisted solvents used in manufacturing that cannot be tested by the General Chapter's GC method. Lancaster Laboratories' analysts have been utilizing a technique referred to as a self-validating method. The benefit to this self-validating method approach includes a faster timeline and is more cost effective than the traditional approach for clients having a short term or infrequent need for testing.
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October 29, 2009 By:Travis Emig
With the global economy in a recession, a vast majority of pharmaceutical companies are being forced to cut costs and control spending. For most companies this means a reduction in workforce and tighter outsourcing budgets. Companies are left with the same amount of required laboratory testing, but with fewer employees to perform the work in-house. Clients are left searching for value-added programs that will allow them to project all of their outsourcing costs for an entire year in order to lock in on set annual costs.
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October 21, 2009 By:Lancaster Laboratories
Lancaster Laboratories' Professional Scientific StaffingSM service has been specifically designed to give you the "non-permanent" workforce you need for anywhere from one year to 10 years or more with no worries about co-employment and at lower costs than fixed headcounts.
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October 5, 2009 By: Wayne Vallee, R.Ph., MBA, RAC
Although children suffer from many of the same diseases as adults and are often treated with the same drugs, only a small fraction of the drugs marketed and used as therapies in the United States have been studied in pediatric patients 0–16 years of age. Recent data demonstrates that only about 25% of approved drugs marketed in the United States have adequate pediatric data to support approval of product labeling by FDA for dosing, safety, or efficacy in children. This lack of appropriate pediatric testing and labeling increases the chances of incorrect dosing, thereby exposing pediatric patients to either an increased risk of adverse reactions or less than optimal therapeutic benefits.
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October 5, 2009 By:Debra Norman, Ph.D., JD, Gary Hindman, Ph.D.
On March 25, 2008, new legislation designated as the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA; "the Act") took effect, which directed FDA to develop a systematic, scientifically sound approach to managing the risk-benefit ratio of a drug throughout its lifecycle, with an explicit focus on postapproval safety. In September 2009, FDA announced a draft guidance to assist sponsors in the preparation of a REMS. The guidance provides links to a number of resources available at FDA to aid in REMS preparation.
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October 5, 2009 By:Richard Angelo, Ph.D.
The development of increasingly more complex and sophisticated in vitro diagnostic (IVD) devices by clinical laboratories has precipitated FDA concern regarding a lack of product controls. These tests are often produced using available marketed kits, may include components purchased from a commercial supplier, and are offered for use as a diagnostic service. FDA contends that test ingredients or components used in the production of LDTs are essentially unregulated, therefore, of unpredictable quality. The regulatory boundary between FDA-regulated medical devices LDTs exempt from FDA jurisdiction remains somewhat blurred; however, the looming finalization of the CPG and IDVMIA guidance documents stand to better clarify this borderline.
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September 21, 2009 By:Tom Hughes
Clearly defined objectives and project requirements between the pharmaceutical company and their contract packager need to be spelled out ? in writing ? in a Technical Transfer Document prior to any pharma packaging project. A published report documenting details for the customer and the packager is a critical component for success.
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