General Considerations for Process Validation

In all stages of the product lifecycle, good project management and good archiving that capture scientific knowledge will make the process validation program more effective and efficient. The following practices should ensure uniform collection and assessment of information about the process and enhance the accessibility of such information later in the product lifecycle.

• WE  recommend an integrated team approach  to process validation that includes expertise from a variety of disciplines (e.g., process engineering, industrial pharmacy, analytical chemistry, microbiology, statistics, manufacturing, and quality assurance). Project plans, along with the full support of senior management, are essential elements for success.

 • Throughout the product lifecycle, various studies can be initiated to discover, observe, correlate, or confirm information about the product and process. All studies should be planned and conducted according to sound scientific principles, appropriately documented, and approved in accordance with the established procedure appropriate for the stage of the lifecycle.

 • The terms attribute(s) (e.g., quality, product, component) and parameter(s) (e.g., process, operating, and equipment) are not categorized with respect to criticality in this guidance. With a lifecycle approach to process validation that employs risk based decision making throughout that lifecycle, the perception of criticality as a continuum rather than a binary state is more useful. All attributes and parameters should be evaluated in terms of their roles in the process and impact on the product or in-process material, and reevaluated as new information becomes available. The degree of control over those attributes or parameters should be commensurate with their risk to the process and process output. In other words, a higher degree of control is appropriate for attributes or parameters that pose a higher risk. The Agency recognizes that terminology usage can vary and expects that each manufacturer will communicate the meaning and intent of its terminology and categorization to the Agency.

 • Many products are single-source or involve complicated manufacturing processes. Homogeneity within a batch and consistency between batches are goals of process validation activities. Validation offers assurance that a process is reasonably protected against sources of variability that could affect production output, cause supply problems, and negatively affect public health.
Ref:https://www.fda.gov/downloads/drugs/guidances/ucm070336.pdf