Recent Trends in Product Development and Regulatory Issues on Impurities in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and Drug Products. Part 2: Safety Considerations of Impurities in Pharmaceutical Products and Surveying the Impurity Landscape

The American Association for Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Workshop on Predicting and Monitoring Impurities in API and Drug Products: Product Development and Regulatory Issues was held on 13–14 October 2012 at the McCormick Place in Chicago, IL, USA. The goal of the workshop was to discuss control strategies of chemical and physical changes of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and drug products in the drug development process. These changes can affect both the safety and efficacy of drugs; therefore, the ability to rapidly predict and assess the potential for drug product performance changes for impurity formation and the associated safety concerns are important parts of speeding the development of innovative drug therapies without compromising quality. The workshop comprised four different sessions. Each session focused on separate fundamental issues to build a comprehensive understanding of the physical and chemical processes that affect drug impurities and drug degradation products, the control of impurities, and the impact of these factors on safety and regulatory areas. Taken together, this comprehensive understanding is used to achieve a more robust development approach that enables predictability with a concomitant assurance of safety and efficacy. Innovative methodologies for development of effective stability control strategies were also presented. This article summarizes sessions 3 and 4 of the American Association for Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Workshop on Predicting and Monitoring Impurities in API and Drug Products: Product Development and Regulatory Issues and addresses issues of safety considerations of impurities in pharmaceutical products and surveying the impurity landscape. Sessions 1 and 2 of the American Association for Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Workshop on Predicting and Monitoring Impurities in API and Drug Products: Product Development and Regulatory Issues are summarized in Recent Trends in Product Development and Regulatory Issues on Impurities in active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and Drug Products Part 1: Predicting Degradation Related Impurities and Impurity Considerations for Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms published separately.