Alcami recently contributed to a special feature in Drug Development and Delivery magazine titled "Outsourcing Analytical Testing: The Gateway to Drug Manufacturing."

Alcami: Customizing Programs to Meet Accelerated Product Timelines

Alcami is a CDMO that offers fully integrated, comprehensive analytical testing to support technologies for every stage of development. Its laboratory services platform is comprised of analytical testing and development services for small molecule and biologics drug products, as well as specialized offerings such as elemental impurities, abuse deterrence, and extractables and leachables. In addition, formulations development scientists address challenges related to new chemical entities.

Agency expectations are quickly evolving for the evaluation of drug product packaging and delivery systems and the surfaces used during manufacture with respect to potential leachables. Every new and generic drug product must be assessed for extractables and leachables (E&L). In this top five list, Alcami experts will address the extractables and leachables questions our experts hear most.

1. What is the difference between an extractable and a leachable?
   Extractables are compounds that can be extracted from a packaging component, delivery system, or manufacturing surface via laboratory manipulation, such as exposure to solvents or heat. Extractables can be potential leachables. Leachables are compounds that passively migrate into the drug product over time, as a result of direct contact from the packaging system, in-use componentry, or a manufacturing surface.
   
   

The new elemental impurities regulations stress the importance of controlling all sources of elemental impurities in drug products. The regulations also impact all upcoming and current commercial drug products for human use. To comply with these regulations, it is critical to have an efficient, cost-effective, and agency-accepted approach.

Elemental impurities can contaminate or leach into a drug product from multiple sources (i.e. drug substance, excipients, water, equipment, and container closure systems), therefore, it is no longer acceptable to monitor the inlet raw materials only. A conservative risk-based approach is recommended, which should address all potential sources of elemental impurities. If it can be demonstrated that the elemental impurities present in the drug product are under control (less than the control threshold for three lots), then analysis at release is not needed. 

According to Dr. John Metcalfe, “pharmaceutical companies go to great lengths to manufacture a drug product which is sterile, whether by terminal sterilization or aseptic processing. Equally important to the microbiological quality of the product at the time of product release is its microbiological quality at the time of patient administration.” This Q & A featuring microbial in-use studies with microbiological expert, Brent Harlow, will address the most common questions asked about these studies.

Join Alcami for a webinar to learn more about submitting samples through Alcami OnDemand, a customer portal that provides clients unprecedented and rapid access and visualization into ongoing projects. 

Using Alcami OnDemand to submit Analytical Testing projects is a simple process that will save you time and streamline project tracking. This webinar will detail the finer points of online sample submission. We will show you how to build a sample submission project in Alcami OnDemand and walk you through the following processes:

Alcami OnDemand™ is a customer-focused portal giving you the power to know where your results are at all times. Alcami OnDemand (AOD) features quoting tools, project tracking, material and test reference libraries, a progressive messaging center, and central file repository. AOD provides you with the ability to build a custom sample submission quote quickly and track major milestones within your project.

Alcami’s new features and enhancements to the platform allow for a more user-friendly and intuitive system. Our mission is to continuously bring first-to-market initiatives to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries— further increasing our commitment to our clients and their patients. Improved features include:

Durham, NC (USA) – October 25, 2018 – Alcami Corporation, a leading provider of fully-integrated custom end-to-end solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, announced today its collaboration with Medicines Development for Global Health (MDGH), a not-for-profit Australian biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of affordable medicines and vaccines for neglected diseases prevalent in low and middle-income countries. MDGH recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of moxidectin, a novel new drug for the treatment of river blindness (onchocerciasis). MDGH utilized Alcami’s advanced analytical testing services and industry-leading accelerated turnaround time offering to meet critical approval deadlines.

An FTE agreement is considered a comprehensive analytical service that allows pharmaceutical and biotech companies flexibility, freedom, and consistent control of outsourced laboratory needs.

Drug developers with an abundance of overflow lab testing or limited lab space and staffing are ideal candidates for what Alcami calls an Extended Workbench program. Additional support may also be critical if the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the acceleration of your drug product. The chart below is a summary of the FDA’s drug development descriptions for when a product has significant implication on a patients’ welfare (FDA, 2018).

Stability is an integral part of the drug development process. With every stability study, it is essential to focus on the quality attributes of the product— most importantly safety.

Throughout this guidebook, Alcami scientists will discuss stability testing procedures, the  “how” and “what” of degradation in the measurement of shelf life, the importance of storage conditions, and the necessity of following a medication’s recommended guidelines.

Durham, NC (USA) – June 13, 2018 – Alcami Corporation, a leading provider of fully-integrated custom end-to-end solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, today announced the expanded deployment of its Extended Workbench laboratory services program to support the ongoing manufacturing and development of ZILRETTA® (triamcinolone acetonide extended-release injectable suspension). ZILRETTA is the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved product from Flexion Therapeutics, Inc., a Massachusetts-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel, local therapies for the treatment of patients with musculoskeletal conditions, beginning with osteoarthritis (OA). Flexion utilized Alcami’s Extended Workbench to support ZILRETTA from Phase 2 clinical trials through commercial launch and is using the program for the release and stability testing of commercial batches.