Assure Batch Uniformity for Freeze-Dried Products
Assure Batch Uniformity for Freeze-Dried Products
March 2005
By Edward H. Trappler, President, Lyophilization Technology
PharmaManufacturing.com
Success requires precise control of process conditions, extensive equipment testing, and analysis of bulk solution, dry and reconstituted product; surrogates can be used for some tests.
Bringing any new pharmaceutical to market requires coordinated efforts in product design, formulation development and process engineering throughout the development phase. Moving that new product to commercial-scale manufacturing requires careful validation, and demonstrating batch uniformity is an essential part of this critical process.
Lyophilization, or freeze-drying, is becoming more important in developing and manufacturing unstable, sensitive pharmaceuticals. However, lyophilization poses special challenges to achieving and ensuring batch uniformity. First, the product itself is sensitive to the presence of water and to process conditions. Then, the process involves manipulating subambient temperature and subatmospheric pressure conditions. Success requires close control of process parameters such as temperature and time, and equipment operating performance. It also depends on understanding factors unique to each lyophilizer ? even a vial?s position on the freeze dryer tray can have a major impact on product quality and batch uniformity.
Controlling critical processing parameters is imperative to ensuring that batches are uniform and the process reproducible from batch to batch. Completing a comprehensive Installation Qualification (IQ), Operational Qualification (OQ) and Peformance Qualification (PQ) assures that the equipment can produce material of sufficient quality.
USP has issued compendial requirements for content uniformity [1] to assure that the dosage in each container is within an acceptable variation. However, to date, only limited information is available on assessing finished product attributes for lyophilized preparations [2, 3]. Characteristics and quality of the lyophilized product, both dried material and the reconstituted solution, can verify the level of batch uniformity.
This article will discuss some of the issues involved in achieving batch uniformity for lyophilized pharmaceuticals, summarize important research, and suggest strategies, at every step of the process, for ensuring the batch uniformity of lyophilized products.
Pinpoint the sources of variability
Fortunately, research has provided a scientific basis for improving control of the freeze-drying process, by correlating specific variables to product quality. The most important factors, by far, are:
* Sublimation rates and residual moisture. Both of these critical process variables may be influenced by a vial?s position on the lyophilizer shelf, as well as by variations in process conditions, time, temperature control, heat and mass transfer [4]. Sublimation rates appear to be lowest at the vial tray?s center, and highest at its corners [5,6], and empirical evidence is so strong that one researcher has even developed a three-dimensional mathematical model to correlate tray placement and sublimation rate [7]. Further studies have examined the influence of annealing during freezing, and quantified primary drying rate coefficients of samples at various positions in the shelf [8].
* Quality of API, excipient, and bulk solution. The behavior of the material during the processes depends on the characteristics of the starting bulk solution, and characteristics of starting ingredients must be analyzed and correlated with final product attributes to verify batch uniformity. This analysis should include any variation in preparation and dispensing prior to placing the product into the lyophilizer.
* Quality of packaging components. Container construction can have an impact on product during processing, particularly during sublimation. Studies have shown that container construction can influence heat transfer [9], temperature profiles [10] and product behavior [11].
* Relative capacity and performance of the lyophilizer equipment.
* Concentration changes, thermal stress, and dehydration that occur during freezing.
* Stability of the bulk solution throughout the fill day, as well as that of the solution in the final containers. Storage affects the stability of bulk solutions [12]. Nevertheless, a number of manufacturers formulate bulk solution the day before filling occurs, which assumes that the solution will be stable for over 24 hours. Since filling a batch may take anywhere from a few to over eight hours, each container of solution holds product that has been in the presence of water for a different length of time. As a result, the quality of product in the first filled container may differ from that of the last.
Take action
Once the root causes of variation are understood, an action plan can be developed. The following steps will help in this process:
* Compare liquid and solid state product at comparable stages of the cycle.
Because the first and last containers filled may vary in quality, product of different age in the liquid state should be compared with dried product removed at comparable stages in the filling cycle. This analysis will ensure that process conditions during lyophilization have not exacerbated any changes in product quality that may already have occurred.
* Location, location, location: Consider product?s position in the lyophilizer.
It is also important to correlate dried product quality to the vial?s position in the lyophilizer. One should expect the quality of the first and last containers filled, both unprocessed liquid and dried product, to be comparable. However, location may influence the product?s residual moisture, an important factor in promoting adequate stability, as well as its physical appearance, reconstitution time, and the quality of the reconstituted solution.
* Define and monitor critical parameters, and, where possible, monitor product temperature.
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