2018 PDA Container Closure Performance and Integrity Conference

8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
P1: Assuring Packaging Quality Across the Product Lifecycle
Moderator: Diane Paskiet, Director, Scientific Affairs, West Pharmaceutical Services

Session Description: A holistic strategy for drug product quality includes building in packaging and delivery system performance properties from early development through commercialization. Integration of the drug product together with the delivery device is critical to the patient experience and ensuring successful treatments. There is a wide diversity of packaging and device delivery constituents which introduce unique risk factors for performance and integrity based upon intended use. Critical attributes for packaging and delivery system quality must be established and tested to meet the requirements of the drug product throughout its lifecycle. This session will provide an overview of regulatory expectations for evaluation of different types of device constituents, and considerations for defining quality elements for lifecycle management.

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
P2: Implementing Qualification and Development Strategies for Inherent Package
Moderator: Roger Asselta, Vice President, Technical Services, Genesis Packaging Technologies, A Division of R-V Industries, Inc.

Session Description: This session will explore examples of methodologies for assessing inherent package integrity, developing, and qualifying container closure systems.

1:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
P3: Integrating Quality and Regulatory Requirements in Combination Product Development
Moderator: Olivia Henderson, Principal Engineer, Container Science and Engineering, Amgen Inc.

Session Description: Combination products integrate many elements of drug product development but have some different elements as well. This session will explore the different requirements and approaches to developing an integrated drug delivery device.

4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
P4: Designing Container Closure Systems for Enhanced Functionality and Usability
Moderator: M. Isabel Tejero del Rio, MD, PhD, Lead Consumer Safety Officer, CDRH, FDA

Session Description: The design of a CCS goes beyond ensuring compatibility with the drug or biologic product it will contain. It includes considerations for usability of the product by patients or clinicians, and functionality assessments to ensure that drug integrity is preserved, all parts of the CCS are compatible, and all potential risks derived from the use of different components together.

7:15 a.m. – 8:15 a.m.
Breakfast Session: Requirements and Guidelines for Performance and Integrity Testing
Moderator: Lei Li, PhD, Engineering Advisor, Eli Lilly and Company

Session Description: Requirements for functionality testing in USP has been limited to testing closures intended to be pierced by a hypodermic needle for penetrability, fragmentation, and self-sealing capacity. There is now greater diversity of elastomeric components and applications, which introduces additional risk factors to consider when qualifying a component for its intended use. Appropriate performance and functionality testing is necessary for a wider range of systems needed by the end-user compared to current state of testing to a specification that may not represent actual use. This session will take a look at the proposed USP <382> chapter and application to a various container closure systems. In addition, the PDA Technical Report 27 Pharmaceutical Package Integrity, originally published in 1998, is being revised to include practical guidance on applying risk-based approach for CCI evaluation and verification throughout product lifecycle. The content will be updated to address challenges in CCI testing of novel package designs, test method selection considerations, and the emerging CCIT technologies. The session will provide an overview of the revision and highlight key current topics.  

8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
P5: Container Closure Integrity Assurance throughout Manufacturing Processes
Moderator: Marc Hogreve, Senior Engineer Integrity Testing Solutions, Sartorius Stedim Biotech GmbH

Session Description: Sterile drug products require the establishment of CCI of the final container. However, the maintenance of critical quality attributes, including sterility of the drug product may rely upon steps further upstream in the drug manufacturing process. CCI of specific parts of the production process may be required to maintain the drug product critical quality attributes. The use of single-use systems in these critical process steps has raised an increased regulatory scrutiny in terms of integrity assurance of various types of single-use bulk containers for liquid and frozen storage and shipping, processing, transfer, and formulation and filling. Establishing CCI of these systems in use at critical stages of the process begins with development and validation for each individual process system used in the process, and may include tests to verify CCI during the single use system lifecycle. This session focuses on assurance of CCI along the drug product manufacturing lifecycle, including principles like QRM, QbD, quality and process control, as well as integrity testing practices.

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
P6: Protecting the Drug Product through the Product Lifecycle: Shipping Considerations
Moderator: Paul Harber, Principal, Modality Solutions

Session Description: We will look at two product categories revealing specific supply chain risks and challenges from the point of formulation to the patient bedside. Vaccines and protein solutions can be damaged when exposed to shock events. The mechanics related to this damage can be described by studying the effects of cavitation induced by filling equipment and shock events. Cellular and gene therapy products require an unbroken supply chain that must maintain very low temperatures to ensure therapeutic benefit to the patient. Measures employed in the design of the supply chain to ensure safety and efficacy will be presented.

1:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
P7: USP <1207> and Beyond: Novel Container Closure Integrity Testing Technologies and Applications
Moderator: Dominick DeGrazio, Senior Associate Scientist, Drug Product Development - Large Molecules, Janssen R&D, LLC

Session Description: The recent USP <1207> update and the ensuing Annex 1 revision have prompted the utilization of highly sensitive and deterministic methodologies to assess container closure integrity throughout the product lifecycle. As no CCIT method is the gold standard, the need to develop novel technologies that improve leak detection, ease-of-use, and sample throughput is becoming increasingly important. Simultaneously, the use of CCIT techniques should be complemented by adequate seal quality testing. Correlating seal quality to CCIT in package development lays the foundation for a control strategy more aptly designed to mitigate CCI risk during manufacturing, release, and stability.

4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
P7: Drug Product Intrinsic Interactions with Delivery Systems
Moderator: Lei Li, PhD, Engineering Advisor, Eli Lilly and Company

Session Description: Drug product defines the protection requirements of its container closure system. Many new biological products, such as cellular and gene therapy products, require container closure systems maintain integrity at extremely low temperature storage conditions. Further, drug product interactions with critical components of the primary packaging system could adversely affecting integrity and performances of the container closure and drug delivery system. On the other hand, the packaging processes and delivery system design can affect how a drug product is manufactured, administrated to, and subsequently perceived (e.g. pain) and absorbed by patient. Additional stresses may be applied to drug product during manufacturing, packaging, and dose administration; the packaging components may adulterate drug product during storage. In order to ensure patients receive high quality product at the right dose, these intrinsic interactions must be identified, characterized, and their potential impact should be taken into consideration during system design and process development.