‘Quality Metrics’: FDA’s plan for a key set of measurements to help ensure manufacturers are producing quality medications

Posted on July 28, 2015 by FDA Voice

By: Ashley Boam, MSBE and Mary Malarkey

Yesterday, we took an important step in advancing the quality of medications with the release of draft guidance for the pharmaceutical industry called, “Request for Quality Metrics.”

Ashley Boam, FDA’s acting Director, Office of Policy for Pharmaceutical Quality, Office of Pharmaceutical Quality, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research

In these technical terms, that may not sound like much. But – in plain language – this document describes a set of measurements to help the agency evaluate the quality of the facilities and the processes that manufacturers use to make FDA-regulated drugs and biologics. These include prescription drugs and certain biological products. The guidance also encourages these manufacturers to conduct robust quality measurements on their own products.

It’s critically important for patients, health care professionals, caregivers, payers, and others to have confidence in how medications are made. “Quality metrics,” or the measures used to assess the quality of drug and biologic manufacturing, can help us achieve this goal.

We expect that these measurements will strengthen our efforts to ensure that FDA-regulated medications are not only demonstrated to be safe and effective, but also continually manufactured under strict quality standards.

We believe a careful analysis of quality metrics can help FDA better identify which facilities are at the highest risk for quality problems. This will help us use our inspection resources most efficiently and effectively.

Mary Malarkey, FDA’s Director, Office of Compliance and Biologics Quality, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research

Quality is also directly connected to a consistent supply of needed medications. Over the years, there have been disruptions in the availability of some drug and biological products due to manufacturing production flaws. We believe that a company’s own robust quality measurement system, along with our quality measurements, can help manufacturers better identify factors that may predict manufacturing problems – and move us a step closer toward reducing and controlling these disruptions.

FDA has been working for many years on solutions to encourage and support the modernization of pharmaceutical manufacturing, such as the use of risk-based regulatory strategies for oversight. Our quality metrics initiative is one of several approaches we believe will further support this effort.

We encourage patients, prescribers, industry and others to submit comments regarding our Quality Metrics draft guidance. We’ll also be hosting a public meeting on August 24, 2015. We’ll use this input to help create a final guidance to support the reporting and calculation of quality measurements.

Yesterday’s draft guidance is an important step on a shared path toward improved drug quality throughout the pharmaceutical industry. We look forward to receiving comments, finalizing the guidance, and receiving the first set of reports.

In the meantime, we’ll be working with others to support industry’s use of robust quality metrics programs and to understand the best way to use quality metrics to improve manufacturing quality and FDA’s regulatory decision making.

We also will continue to emphasize the importance of quality in the pharmaceutical industry for companies that make medications and for the patients who receive them.

Ashley Boam is FDA’s acting Director, Office of Policy for Pharmaceutical Quality, Office of Pharmaceutical Quality, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research

Mary Malarkey is FDA’s Director, Office of Compliance and Biologics Quality, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research