From New Jersey to New Delhi, a global focus on quality
Posted on March 24, 2015 by FDA Voice
By: Howard Sklamberg and Cynthia Schnedar
As we walked through the bustling, ancient city streets of Old Delhi last week, teeming with tourists and shop keepers selling spices and saris, we were struck by how resplendent this country is, and just how much it offers the world.
This is certainly true about prescription drugs. India is a significant exporter of generic drugs to the United States. The American people benefit tremendously from generic drugs, as more and more generic medications reduce costs for patients, and the American healthcare system. The rise of India’s pharmaceutical star is one of the reasons why our trip to India is so important.
While here, we have had a chance to meet with our regulatory counterparts in the Indian government, as well as the drug manufacturers that are either based here, or who have facilities in the country. Needless to say, we are learning a great deal.
It's no secret there have been challenges associated with the quality of generic drugs coming out of some facilities in India. Some people have asked us here if the FDA is “singling out” India for increased inspections. We simply reply that increased exports to the U.S. result in increased inspection, no matter where you are in the world. FDA inspections ensure that when a firm wants to export drugs to the United States, the drugs meet FDA standards and will be of the quality patients and consumers want and deserve.
And we've been happy to hear that this focus on quality is, in fact, a shared goal, held by both the Indian — and India-based — regulators and pharmaceutical manufacturers with whom we’ve met. They understand what we mean when we tell them the FDA is interested in helping to build a global network of quality; that it doesn’t matter whether a drug is made in Hoboken or Hyderabad, if it is intended for use in the United States, the drug, and the way and under what conditions it’s produced, will be reviewed using the same standards and levels of scrutiny.
That scrutiny, by the way, doesn’t always have to have negative results. The inspections associated with drug production have been a central discussion point on this trip, and we’ve brought news that has been well-received, especially by the drug industry. We shared our proposed plan to create a new approach to facility inspections, one that will not only note problems, but will also allow our inspectors to document where a firm’s quality management system exceeds what would be required to meet regulatory compliance. To put it simply: the inspections can yield also carrots, and not just sticks.
So what are the carrots? These findings could be used to influence the frequency of our inspection of a particular facility, and possibly even support regulatory flexibility around post-approval manufacturing changes. These kinds of decisions would be anchored by data that proves that the risks of manufacturing problems in a certain facility are minimal.
We have often said we cannot inspect our way to absolute drug quality. Many of our discussions on this trip have focused on the importance of firms enhancing their own “quality cultures.” And, to that end, we know there are initiatives we can take to help them succeed. For example, we will be piloting a new questionnaire that could be used to further standardize inspections, with the goal of uniformly harvesting the kind of data that supports accurate measures of quality. We believe that by improving the inspection process in this way, future “metrics” that define quality will be understood and aspired to by manufacturers — no matter where they are in the world.
Of course, enforcement has been, and will continue to be, an important part of our program to ensure drug quality. Enforcement is a particularly appropriate tool when a firm does not submit accurate data to us. FDA relies on information to do its job, and faulty information means that we cannot ensure the quality of the drugs that the firm produces.
It is already clear to us, after speaking with regulators and industry leaders here, that India intends to be part of that global community that is committed to producing the highest quality of drugs possible. Through workshops and joint inspections, we continue to work with the Indian government to raise awareness and understanding of our inspections processes. And to the industry leaders we have met with here, we have pledged to continue to collect their feedback on how we might be able to help them improve regarding quality issues, and to incentivize them to do so.
India has a significant spot in the constellation of drug-producing nations. As one Indian official so eloquently said to us, we have “a galaxy” in common. And, we are happy to add, that the brightest star in that galaxy may just be our shared commitment to a global system of drug quality.
Howard Sklamberg is FDA's Deputy Commissioner for Global Regulatory Operations and Policy
Cynthia Schnedar, J.D., is Director of the Office of Compliance at FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
