QbD implementation and Post Approval Lifecycle Management (PALM)

Quality by design (QbD) is a global regulatory initiative with the goal of enhancing pharmaceutical development through the proactive design of pharmaceutical manufacturing process and controls to consistently deliver the intended performance of the product. The principles of pharmaceutical development relevant to QbD are described in the ICH guidance documents (ICHQ8-11) [1-3]. An integrated set of risk assessments and their related elements developed at Roche/Genentech were designed to provide an overview of product and process knowledge for the production of a recombinant monoclonal antibody. This chapter describes concepts for implementing the control strategy for a monoclonal antibody including a Design Space for routine commercial manufacturing, and the Post Approval Lifecycle Management (PALM) plan that is used to manage any remaining risks during the commercial lifecycle. The PALM plan is part of the submitted dossier in the regional section and serves as a regulatory agreement between the manufacturer and the health authority specifying how process and product attributes are monitored to ensure both remain within a controlled state post-approval, process parameter changes are managed within the design space, and the control system is updated as necessary based on further process and product knowledge.