Aspect Ratio
The length of a particle or fiber divided by its width. (TR85)
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Area
Measured surface area of a flat projection of a particle.(TR85)
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Audit Trail Review Assessment (ATRA)
A tool that can be used to help determine what elements within the audit trail should be reviewed, and the frequency at which the review should take place for each part of the audit trail where a review is required.
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Annual Product Review
GMP-mandated evaluation of the standards for each active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), drug product or biologics to determine the need for changes in drug product specifications and/ or manufacturing, control procedures or manufacturing processes. (TR54-5)
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Animal-Derived Raw Materials (Tertiary)
Sourced from synthetic components but includes animal-derived components used during the manufacture of the raw material that do not come in direct contact with the raw material, for example, polymers or elastomers used in process equipment or plumbing that may contain or may have been exposed to animal-sourced materials such as stearates or slip agents. (TR83)
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Animal-Derived Raw Materials (Secondary)
Non-animal in origin but may be derived from processes that include materials from animal components that come in direct contact with the raw material, for example, a recombinant protein produced in an E. coli fermentation that uses fermentation medium containing tryptone, or a recombinant protein expressed in plants that are exposed to bovine manure fertilizer. (TR83)
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Animal-Derived Raw Materials (Primary)
Contains in the final raw material or uses in the manufacturing process of the final raw material, any raw material derived directly from bovine or other animal tissues, for example, bovine serum, porcine-derived trypsin, and animal-tissue-derived hydrolysates. (TR83)
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Automated Inspection
Consists of mechanical handling and presentation of product containers combined with automated inspection of the filled containers using image analysis and/or light obscuration. (TR79)
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Atypical Particles (AP)
Particles that should not be present in excipients, APIs, intermediates, and final oral dosage forms, and their presence should always trigger an investigation. These particles consist of foreign matter that is not intended/designed to be in direct contact with the product/manufacturing process. These particles commonly originate from materials which accidently or unintentionally come into contact with the product or a process stream. (TR78)
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Air Shower
A device fitted to a BFS machine which provides, at a minimum, a continuous flow of Grade A quality air supply over the filling needles and the point-of-fill. The air shower is also known as a nozzle shroud in shuttle type machines. (TR77)
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Advanced Aseptic Process
A process in which direct intervention with open product containers or exposed product contact surfaces by operators wearing conventional cleanroom garments is not required and never permitted. (TR77)
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Activity
Ability of endotoxin (LPS) to initiate the LAL cascade in the compendial bacterial endotoxins test (BET) assay, or the ability to elicit a pyrogenic response in a compendial pyrogen test (2,10). Activity can be measured by other assays such as the monocyte activation test (MAT) or recombinant Factor C tests (rFc), if such tests have been validated, to demonstrate that decisions made from the results are comparable to or superior to the compendial assay. Activity is measured in endotoxin units (EU). In terms of activity, one EU = one IU, regardless of the source. Activity is generally expressed as a concentration, usually EU/mL.(TR82)
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Audit Trail (MHRA)
Metadata containing information associated with actions that relate to the creation, modification or deletion of GXP records. An audit trail provides for secure recording of life-cycle details such as creation, additions, deletions or alterations of information in a record, either paper or electronic, without obscuring or overwriting the original record. An audit trail facilitates the reconstruction of the history of such events relating to the record regardless of its medium, including the "who, what, when and why" of the action.(TR80)
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Audit Trail (WHO)
The audit trail is a form of metadata that contains information associated with actions that relate to the creation, modification or deletion of GXP records. An audit trail provides for secure recording of life-cycle details such as creation, additions, deletions, or alterations of information in a record, either paper or electronic, without obscuring or overwriting the original record.(TR80)
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Archival (MHRA )
A designated secure area or facility (e.g., cabinet, room, building or computerised system) for the long-term retention of data and metadata for the purposes of verification of the process or activity.(TR80)
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Archival (WHO)
The process of protecting records from the possibility of being further altered or deleted, and storing these records under the control of independent data management personnel throughout the required retention period.(TR80)
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Audit Trail (FDA)
A secure, computer-generated, timestamped electronic record that allows for reconstruction of the course of events relating to the creation, modification, or deletion of an electronic record. An audit trail is a chronology of the "who, what, when, and why" of a record.(TR80)
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Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
A general statistical approach to data analysis (i.e., comparison of means) in which the variation in a method’s results is partitioned among explanatory factors in order to systematically assess factor influence and/or variance components. (TR57)
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Anaerobic Microorganism
A microorganism that does not utilize oxygen as the final electron acceptor during metabolism; microorganism that will grow only in the absence of oxygen. (TR62)(TR22)
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Acholeplasma laidlawii
A. laidlawii is a mycoplasma in class Mollicutes and order Acholeplasmatales. (TR75)
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Analyte
Substance (usually a residue) for which an analysis is being performed. (TR29) (TR49) (TR70) A specific chemical moiety being measured, which can be intact drug, biomolecule or its derivative, impurity, and/or excipients in a drug product. [Synonym: measurand] (TR57)
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Attribute
A physical, chemical, or microbiological property or characteristic of an input or output material. (TR60)
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Attribute Sampling
Inspection where either the unit of product is classified as conforming or non-conforming or the number of non-conformities in the unit of products is counted with respect to a given requirement of set of requirements. (TR43)
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Alert Limit
An established internal (in-house) data-based value giving early warning of potential drift of manufacturing process from normal operating conditions and triggers appropriate follow-up investigations. Alert limits are always lower than action limits. (TR69)
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Aseptic Processing Area (APA)
Controlled environment, consisting of several zones, in which the air supply, facility, materials, equipment and personnel are regulated to control microbial and particulate contamination to acceptable levels. (TR22) (TR28) (TR62) (TR70)
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Analytical Method Comparability (AMC)
Equivalence study that measure the same property of two methods and that shows that replacing one of these methods with the other would not adversely affect the test’s use or results. (TR57-2)
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Assess the Effects of the Change
To evaluate the effects of a manufacturing change on the identity, strength, quality, purity, and potency of a drug product as those factors may relate to the safety or effectiveness of the drug product. (TR38)
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Analytical Control
Material used to monitor the performance of a method to assess the integrity and validity of the results. (TR57-2)
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Attributes (Quality Attribute)
A molecular or product characteristic that is selected for its ability to indicate the quality of the product. Collectively, the quality attributes define identity, purity, potency and stability of the product, and safety with respect to adventitious agents. Specifications measure a selected subset of the quality attributes. (TR60)
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Aseptic (Asepsis)
Free from disease-producing microorganisms. (TR28) Free from disease-producing microorganisms. An operation performed in a controlled environment designed to prevent contamination through the introduction of microorganisms. (TR26)
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Antimicrobial Chemical Agent
Substance used to destroy or suppress the growth of microorganisms, whether bacteria, fungi, or viruses, on inanimate objects and surfaces. (TR70)
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Analytical Method Transfer (AMT)
Documented process that qualifies a laboratory (receiving unit) to use an analytical test procedure that originates in another laboratory (the transferring unit, also known as the sending unit), thus ensuring that the receiving unit has the knowledge and ability to perform the transferred analytical procedure as intended. (TR57-2)
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Annealing Temperature
A temperature designed to allow primers to attach to single-stranded DNA or RNA to initiate amplification. The annealing temperature is usually kept a few degrees lower than the melting temperature of the primers to avoid non-specific amplification. See “Melting Temperature”. (TR50)
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Analytical Platform Technology (APT)
An analytical method that is used for multiple products and/or types of sample matrix without modification of the procedure. Similar to compendial methods, an APT method may not require full validation for each new product or sample type. (TR57)
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Analytical Procedure
That which is performed in order to obtain a reportable result. The procedure should describe in detail the steps necessary to perform the analytical test. This may include but is not limited to: the sample, the reference standard and the reagents preparations, use of the apparatus, generations of the calibration curve, use of the formulae for the calculation [Synonym: Method, Assay] (TR57)
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Attachment (Adhesion)
Discrete association of a microorganism with an animate or inanimate surface. (TR69)
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Area Disinfection
Disinfection of floors, walls, ceilings, and other surfaces. (TR70)
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Aseptic Filling
The part of aseptic processing where a pre- sterilized product is filled and/or packaged into sterile containers and closed. (TR22) (TR28) (TR62) (TR13)
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AOAC International (Association Official Analytical Communities)
Serves communities of the analytical sciences by providing the tools and processes necessary to develop voluntary consensus standards or technical standards through stakeholder consensus and working groups in which the fit-for-purpose and method performance criteria are established and fully documented. (TR55)
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Assay
Analytical method used to determine the purity or concentration of a specific substance in a mixture. (TR 26)
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Airborne Particulate Count (Total Particulate Count)
The total number of particles of a specific size per unit volume of air. (TR13)
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Airborne Viable Particulate Count (Total Airborne Aerobic Microbial Count)
The total number of particles of a specific size per unit volume of air. (TR13)
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Annealed
Controlled heating process used to remove residual thermal stress from glass containers after glass forming. [Synonym: Lehred] (TR43)
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Analytical Method Design
Collection of activities performed to define the intended purpose of the method, select the appropriate technology to implement the method, and identify the critical method variables that need to be controlled to ensure that the method is robust and rugged. (TR57-2)
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Ancillary Packaging Components/Systems
Additional means used in combination with the basic transportation unit to maintain the required temperature during transport. Examples include active systems and passive systems. (TR39)
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Aseptic Processing Simulation (APS)
A means for establishing the capability of an aseptic process as performed using a growth medium. (TR22) (TR62)
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Attributes (Process Performance Attribute)
An output variable or outcome that cannot be directly controlled, but is an indicator that the process performed as expected.(Synonym - Process Performance Parameter) (TR60)
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As Low as Reasonably Practicable (ALARP)
The ability to reduce risk. ALARP has two facets: Technical and Economic. Technical practicability refers to the ability to reduce risk regardless of cost. Economic practicability refers to the ability to reduce risk without making the product too costly to produce. (TR54) (TR54-2) (TR54-3)
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Analytical Target Profile (ATP)
Set of predefined method parameters and performance requirements that help identify the type of method desired relative to method categories (identity, purity, and impurity) defined in ICH Q2(R1) as well as the necessary method performance attributes, such as accuracy, precision, and specificity. (TR57-2)
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Analytical Instrument Qualification (AIQ)
The qualification of the analytical instrument(s) used as part of the analytical procedure. (TR57)
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