Author Archives: Thomas A. Little

Quality Risk Management for Drug Products and Drug Substances

Risk assessment is used as a vetting tool to determine areas of influence and uncertainty regarding key factors for critical responses. It helps biopharmaceutical companies build both product and process knowledge during development. Every formulation, unit-operation characterization, and design optimization should begin with risk assessment and ends with an understanding of sensitivity, the quantified influence of key factors, improved control logic, edge-of-failure determination, and a qualified design space. Quality Risk Management Quality risk management (QRM) is an essential element in…

Essentials in Quality By Design

Quality by design (QbD) is a systematic approach to drug development. It begins with predefined objectives and emphasizes product and process understanding and process control, all based on sound science, data-based decision making, and quality risk management (QRM). As introduced by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), QbD brings modern drug development methodologies to chemistry, manufacturing, and control (CMC) teams working on biologics, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines. The innovations associated with QbD are not so much the development concepts (which…