March 30, 2022
By Sarah Beale, Staff Writer, MasterControl
The ultimate responsibility in a business lies at the top. In the regulatory world, this includes ensuring the quality system of a medical device company is effective. The specifics of how and how often the review should be conducted are a bit hard to pin down, but that’s by design. 21 CFR Part 820 has general guidelines, but leaves much of the “how to” up to individual companies.
March 29, 2022
By David Jensen, Staff Writer, MasterControl
Lately, it seems the only other term uttered as often as COVID-19 is supply chain. Global supply chains are largely becoming more complex, difficult to manage, and vulnerable to uncertainties and risks. This post addresses the supply chain challenges for pharmaceutical companies and provides tips for overcoming them.
March 24, 2022
By David Butcher, Staff Writer, MasterControl
Even as new technologies provide life sciences manufacturers with smarter, faster, and more cost-effective ways of improving production, choosing the right manufacturing software to transform production processes can be challenging. By determining the capabilities that fundamentally complement an organization’s quality manufacturing goals and current practices, manufacturers will be better prepared to choose the modern manufacturing execution software tools they need to succeed.
March 23, 2022
By Matthew Kanter, Associate Consultant, MWA Consulting, and Lisa Helmonds, VP, Quality & Operations, AVS Life Sciences
With the significant advances in gene and cell therapies, companies producing breakthrough products are facing obstacles ranging from challenges with development to transitioning to commercial manufacturing. Solutions can be found in digital manufacturing execution systems (MES) and quality management systems (QMS).
March 21, 2022
By Steve Holbrooks, Project Manager, MustardSeed
Pharma manufacturers that adopt machine vision technologies are finding faster ways to detect and contain defects and avoid waste and rework. Learn why automated visual inspection (AVI) systems are the key to enhancing quality and productivity in evolving manufacturing environments.
March 18, 2022
By James Jardine, GxP Lifeline Editor, MasterControl
There are so many similar terms related to quality in the life sciences, it’s easy to get confused about their purposes and intersections. Learn the specific roles of quality assurance, quality control, and quality management, how they overlap, and the differences between each critical function.
March 17, 2022
By Sarah Beale, Staff Writer, MasterControl
Even during the pandemic, regulatory inspections must go on. The FDA favored some remote inspectional activities, but has not adopted remote inspections, per se. Mastering remote interactions with the FDA and remote audits require the same digital approach.
March 15, 2022
By David Butcher, Staff Writer, MasterControl
Deviations are an inevitable part of manufacturing, but the ability to detect and deal with deviations in real time, reduce the occurrence of avoidable deviations, and limit their impact is made more difficult than necessary with paper or disconnected systems. Manufacturers can save themselves a lot of pain by leveraging manufacturing software with robust digital tools to increase operational visibility and manage deviations more effectively.
March 10, 2022
By James Jardine, GxP Lifeline Editor, MasterControl
If your medical device company is planning to implement quality management system software, you can’t afford to overlook the 10 most important capabilities an EQMS solution should have. Get the facts about EQMS software before you invest.
March 8, 2022
By David Jensen, Staff Writer, MasterControl
In February 2020, the FDA granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to certain medical devices needed to address the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 virus. The agency recently drafted two new guidances to make preparations for med device companies to return to normal regulatory operations.
March 3, 2022
By Grace Hopkins, Staff Writer, MasterControl
Starting as a small Bureau of Chemistry taking an interest in chemical preservatives, the FDA has grown into one of the largest agencies in the world and accounts for 20 cents of every consumer dollar spent. Although no one is keen on rules, as we look back on history it is clear why FDA regulations are crucial when it comes to consumer protection. Being able to keep up with their extensive list of standards is now only possible through digitization. Lucky for us, we are in an era of rapidly developing technology that will make it possible for manufacturers in all industries to gain quick FDA approval and be on market in record time.
March 1, 2022
By Nicolle Cannon, Founder & CEO, Cannon Quality Group
Medical device manufacturers need to manage risk from the beginning of product design and continue throughout the full product lifecycle - anything less jeopardizes product quality. Connected risk analysis is essential because it gives you a holistic view of risks and their potential impact. Having this level of visibility requires a digital quality management system.
February 24, 2022
By David Jensen, Staff Writer, MasterControl
Many medical device manufacturing businesses are busily exploring ways to reduce the soaring costs of health care. Medical device remanufacturer Northeast Scientific is contributing to the effort by repurposing single-use devices (SUDs) to make them fit and safe to reuse.
February 15, 2022
By Sarah Beale, Staff Writer, MasterControl
To improve quality, life sciences companies need to bring that data together, use automated analytics tools, and use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve performance. There are three main ways we’re preparing to help you do that.
February 8, 2022
By Dale Thompson, Staff Writer, MasterControl
In addition to focusing on more resilient supply chains, the pharma industry needs to prioritize ways to reduce human error in manufacturing. Human errors cost time and money, but they are often preventable.
These seven concepts are critical to understanding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s guidance “Quality Systems Approach to the Pharmaceutical Current Good Manufacturing Practice Regulations.”
January 27, 2022
By Dale Thompson, Staff Writer, MasterControl
Pharmaceutical companies need to partner with contract manufacturers capable of maintaining impeccable product quality. Follow these three tips to find a CMO in the pharma industry that can meet and exceed expectations.
January 25, 2022
By Sarah Beale, Staff Writer, MasterControl
It pays to have backup plans, and the supply chain is no different. Constantly fluctuating COVID-19 protocols and transportation issues continue to plague the medical device industry, but there are steps that can be taken to deal with these problems.
January 20, 2022
By Regina Fullin, Vice President of RA/QA Consulting, Compliance Team
No pharma company wants to fail an inspection, and yet it’s common for these five mistakes to interfere with compliance efforts. Industry expert Nicole Cannon offers tips on how to avoid them along with insight into how digitization can be part of the solution. Follow her advice to get safe, effective products to market quickly.
January 18, 2022
By David Butcher, Staff Writer, MasterControl
While visibility, agility, and responsiveness have been priorities in managing supply chains for decades, the disruption and volatility around the COVID-19 pandemic amplified their critical role. In doing so, it brought to light the need to digitize and integrate supply chain systems to ensure all relevant data and insights can be connected for optimal resiliency.
To protect themselves in the face of supply chain volatility, medical device manufacturers should reassess their supply chain capabilities with an eye toward proactive, tech-enabled solutions.
