Recap of the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) – Puerto Rico Chapter Meeting

On August 22, 2019, I was invited by the IoPP – Puerto Rico Chapter to present key takeaways from FDA’s anticipated Draft Guidance on Computer Software Assurance for Manufacturing, Operations and Quality System Software.  Thirty-two attendees from fifteen companies attended the quarterly meeting at the C3Tec campus in Caguas, Puerto Rico.

Background:  Unfortunately, when the Medical Devices Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) Final Rule, Quality System Regulation, became effective on June 1, 1997, they had an “unintended consequence”:  Validating Computer Systems to death!

According to FDA’s Francisco (Cisco) Vicenty, Program Manager, Case for Quality, FDA CDRH, the Life-Science industry’s high focus on meeting regulatory requirements versus adopting best quality practices has the potential to increase risks to patients.  This compliance-centric approach has resulted in quality issues and has hampered innovation in manufacturing and product development practices.  Additionally, this single-mindedness has led to low rates of investment in automation and digital technologies.

To streamline and improve non-product computer system validation, industry launched a shared effort with FDA to identify causes of misperceptions, to clarify, and to promote the best practices.

Their analysis of the issue shows that:

• The industry lags in implementation of automated systems and new technologies due to lack of clarity, outdated compliance approaches, and perceived regulatory burden.
• Some companies struggle to understand the root cause of issues in order to improve product quality.

Their vision to achieve a new mind-set:

• Drive a paradigm shift in applying value-driven and patient-focused approaches to streamline non-product software CSV.
• Use critical thinking and risk-based, agile approaches to streamline assurance activities and evidence capture.

Their plan to meet their objectives:

• Develop streamlined practice recommendations and pilots.
• Modifications to the 820.70(i) and 820.50 regulatory language.
• Guidance development centered on this software category.

Roque Redondo, VP Business Development at Mirus offered his perspective during the Q&A session by commenting, “It’s very important to understand if companies that provide software to our industry can demonstrate that they really have strong QA Systems in such a way that we can all rely on their software development programs.  I strongly recommend doing a survey of these companies to find out if they will be completely open to QA Audits from their clients to fully demonstrate that their QA Systems are in place and trustful.  In addition, it will be good to investigate if the excessive amount of CSV efforts done in the industry are due to the current guidelines or to the interpretation of the guidelines.”

It was a pleasure to share this information locally to my industry peers.

To hear the FDA’s perspective on the New Approach to Computer Software Assurance in our Straight from the Source webinar series, access it on-demand.