Understanding and applying ICH Q3A and Q3B

The ICH Q3A and Q3B are guidances on dealing with impurities in new drug products. These documents have been issued by the FDA and are updates of earlier versions on the same topic that were prepared by the ICH, which this FDA guideline complements. This is why the documents get their name. The FDA keeps revising these documents from time to time. After every revision, the latest version carries the added taxonomy of "R" to denote that the guidance is a revised one.

The Q3A and the Q3B are two revised guidelines that relate to impurities in drugs. Impurities can happen due to a number of reasons. These are some of them:

• Raw materials
• Byproducts
• Residual solvents
• Reagents
• Product reactions
• Catalysts
• Foreign impurities
• Product degradation

The ICH guidelines Q3A and Q3B deal with the ways of addressing organic and anorganic substances, respectively. They both follow the principles of reporting, identification and qualification of impurities at defined limits. They both exclude impurities arising out of the excipients of drug products.

Scope of Q3A

The scope of the Q3A guideline is limited to testing of impurities in new drug substances. It concerns itself with the content and qualification of chemical substances in new drugs. It is not meant for products derived from herbal, crude, animal or plant, or semi synthetic origin. It is also not for products in the clinical trial stage or for addressing extraneous contaminants, polymorphic forms or enantiomeric impurities.

Scope of Q3B

The scope of the Q3B guideline differs in some ways from that of Q3A. It is meant for the content or qualification of degradation products. It excludes products of all the sources that Q3A does, and additionally also excludes impurities arising from excipients or extractables/leachables of the container closure system.

Thorough and full understanding of these guidelines

It is to offer a complete and thorough knowledge of how to apply the Q3A and Q3B guidelines that Compliance4All, a leading provider of professional trainings for all the areas of regulatory compliance, will be organizing a webinar. Greg Martin, who is the President of Complectors Consulting (www.complectors.com), which provides consulting and training in the area of Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry and served as Director of Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry (R&D) for a major Pharma company for a number of years during his over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry; will be the speaker at this webinar.

To gain clear insights into how these ICH/FDA guidelines apply to your laboratory or area of work, please register for this webinar by visiting Applying ICH Q3A and Q3B for Control

All about the guidelines and regulatory expectations

The objective of this webinar is to provide participants with an understanding of the regulatory expectations for controlling impurities and degradants, including DNA reactive/potential genotoxic impurities, in drug substances and drug products.

Participants who complete this course will be able to:

• Understand regulatory expectations regarding impurities, degradants and potential genotoxic impurities in pharmaceuticals
• Understand what specifications will conform to regulatory expectations
• Develop a process for reporting impurities and addressing OOS situations

Greg will cover the following areas at this webinar:

• Landscape of impurities requiring control in pharmaceutical products
  • General impurities: elemental impurities, residual solvents, microbiological
  • Drug-related impurities process impurities, degradants, potentially genotoxic impurities
• Process Impurities
  • Understanding ICH Q3A
  • Where impurities originate
  • How impurities are characterized
  • How specifications are developed
  • How impurities should be reported
• Degradants
  • Understanding ICH Q3B
  • Where degradants originate
  • How degradants are characterized
    • Potential genotoxic impurities
  • How specifications are developed
  • How degradants should be reported
• Questions and discussion

Compliance4All is a professional trainings provider for the regulated industries. It offers professional trainings for regulatory compliance professionals and offers innovative strategic consulting and advice to a broad range of organizations.