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Regulatory Affairs

Pharma regulatory affairs professionals play an essential role in ensuring all pharmaceutical products comply with regulations governing the industry.

34Interview Q&As

7Product areas

FDA · EMAUS & EU submissions

CDSCOIndia’s regulator

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Regulatory affairs

Making safe, effective healthcare products available worldwide

The regulatory function in healthcare industries is vital in making safe and effective healthcare products available worldwide. Individuals who ensure regulatory compliance and prepare submissions, as well as those whose main job function is clinical affairs or quality assurance, are all considered regulatory professionals.

Regulatory professionals are employed in industry, government and academia and are involved with a wide range of products, including:

  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Medical devices
  • In vitro diagnostics
  • Biologics and biotechnology
  • Nutritional products
  • Cosmetics
  • Veterinary products
Regulatory affairs at Clini India

Goals & roles

What regulatory affairs professionals aim for — and do

Regulatory affairs acts as the interface between the pharmaceutical industry and drug regulatory authorities across the world.

01

Goals of RA

  • Protection of human health
  • Ensuring safety, efficacy and quality of drugs
  • Ensuring appropriateness and accuracy of product information

02

Main roles

  • Act as a liaison with regulatory agencies.
  • Preparation of organized and scientifically valid NDA, ANDA, INDA, MAA and DMF submissions.
  • Ensure adherence and compliance with all the applicable cGMP, ICH, GCP and GLP guidelines, regulations and laws.
  • Providing expertise and regulatory intelligence in translating regulatory requirements into practical workable plans.
  • Advising the companies on regulatory aspects and climate that would affect their proposed activities.

03

Other roles

  • Keeping track of the ever-changing legislation in all the regions in which a company wishes to distribute its products.
  • Advising on legal and scientific restraints and requirements.
  • Collecting, collating and evaluating scientific data.
  • Presenting registration documents to regulatory agencies and carrying out any subsequent negotiations necessary to obtain or maintain marketing authorisation.
  • Giving strategic and technical advice at the highest level in their companies.
  • Helping the company avoid problems caused by badly kept records, inappropriate scientific thinking or poor presentation of data.

Interview questions

Regulatory affairs interview questions and answers

34 questions in four groups — pick a group, then open a question to see the answer.

01

RA basics

8 questions

02

US submissions (FDA)

12 questions

03

EU submissions

7 questions

04

ICH, CTD & dossiers

7 questions

8 questions

RA basics

The profession, its goals and where it fits

Regulatory Affairs in a pharmaceutical industry is a profession which acts as the interface between the pharmaceutical industry and drug regulatory authorities across the world. It is mainly involved in the registration of the drug products in respective countries prior to their marketing.

The main goals of RA are:

  • Protection of human health
  • Ensuring safety, efficacy and quality of drugs
  • Ensuring appropriateness and accuracy of product information

The main roles of RA professionals:

  • Act as a liaison with regulatory agencies.
  • Preparation of organized and scientifically valid NDA, ANDA, INDA, MAA, DMF submissions.
  • Ensure adherence and compliance with all the applicable cGMP, ICH, GCP, GLP guidelines, regulations and laws.
  • Providing expertise and regulatory intelligence in translating regulatory requirements into practical workable plans.
  • Advising the companies on regulatory aspects and climate that would affect their proposed activities.

They must be detail oriented and able to develop realistic action plans as well as prioritizing work activities – without these there are bound to be difficulties in keeping up with all the tasks.

Regulatory submission is the process through which pharmaceutical companies submit the information about their newly developed healthcare product to a regulatory agency for review. They can also submit their documentation seeking additional knowledge about their device.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) is the national regulatory body for Indian pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and serves a parallel function to the European Medicines Agency of the European Union, the PMDA of Japan and the Food and Drug Administration of the United States.

The United States (US) and the EU are the biggest and the most potential markets in the world and are categorized under the regulated markets, whereas the ROW (Rest of the World) market includes all the emerging markets like Brazil (LATAM), Tanzania (Africa), Russia (CIS), Hong Kong (Asia), etc.

Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) Regulatory Affairs (RA) is a specific area within RA that has the ultimate responsibility for providing CMC regulatory leadership and strategy required to achieve regulatory approvals.

12 questions

US submissions (FDA)

IND, NDA, ANDA, 505(b)(2), DMF and eCTD

It’s an application which is filed with FDA to get approval for legally testing an experimental drug on human subjects in the USA.

The NDA is the vehicle through which drug sponsors formally propose that the FDA approve a new pharmaceutical for sale and marketing in the U.S. The data gathered during the animal studies and human clinical trials of an Investigational New Drug become part of the NDA.

In simple words, it is an application which is filed with FDA to market a new pharmaceutical for sale in the USA.

  • New molecular entity (NME)
  • New ester, new salt, or other non-covalent derivative
  • New formulation
  • New combination
  • New manufacturer
  • New indication
  • Drug already marketed, but without an approved NDA
  • OTC (over-the-counter) switch

It is an application filed with FDA for a U.S. generic drug approval for an existing licensed medication or approved drug. In simple words, it is an application for the approval of generic drugs.

A generic drug product is the one that is comparable to an innovator drug product in dosage form, strength, route of administration, quality, performance characteristics and intended use.

A 505(b)(2) application is a type of NDA for which one or more investigations relied on by the applicant for approval were not conducted by/for the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference.

  • New chemical entity (NCE)/new molecular entity (NME)
  • Changes to previously approved drugs
  • Change in dosage form
  • Change in strength
  • Change in route of administration
  • Substitution of an active ingredient in a formulation product
  • Change in formulation
  • Change in dosing regimen
  • Change in active ingredient
  • New combination product
  • New indication
  • Change from prescription indication to OTC indication
  • Naturally derived or recombinant active ingredient
  • Bioinequivalence
New Drug Application (NDA)505(b)(2) application
All investigations relied on by the applicant for approval were conducted by/for the applicant, and the applicant has a right of reference.One or more investigations relied on by the applicant for approval were not conducted by/for the applicant, and the applicant has not obtained a right of reference.
Generally filed for newly invented pharmaceuticals.Generally filed for a new dosage form, new route of administration, new indication etc. for already approved pharmaceuticals.

A Drug Master File (DMF) is a submission to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that may be used to provide confidential detailed information about facilities, processes, or articles used in the manufacturing, processing, packaging, and storing of one or more human drugs.

Important facts regarding DMFs:

  • It is submitted to FDA to provide confidential information
  • Its submission is not required by law or regulations
  • It is neither approved nor disapproved
  • It is filed with FDA to support NDA, IND, ANDA, another DMF or amendments and supplements to any of these
  • It is provided for in 21 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) 314.420
  • It is not required when the applicant references its own information
  • Type I: Manufacturing site, facilities, operating procedures, and personnel (no longer accepted by FDA)
  • Type II: Drug substance, drug substance intermediate, and material used in their preparation, or drug product
  • Type III: Packaging material
  • Type IV: Excipient, colorant, flavour, essence, or material used in their preparation
  • Type V: FDA accepted reference information (FDA discourages its use)

The Electronic Common Technical Document (eCTD) is the standard format for submitting applications, amendments, supplements, and reports to FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) and Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER).

7 questions

EU submissions

MAA, ASMF, approval procedures and CEP

It is an application filed with the relevant authority in Europe (typically, the UK’s MHRA or the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP)) to market a drug or medicine. As per the UK’s MHRA:

  • Applications for new active substances are described as ‘full applications’.
  • Applications for medicines containing existing active substances are described as ‘abbreviated’ or ‘abridged’ applications.

An Active Substance Master File (ASMF) is a submission which is made to EMA, MHRA or any other drug regulatory authority in Europe to provide confidential intellectual property or ‘know-how’ of the manufacturer of the active substance.

In simple words, it is a submission made to European drug regulatory agencies on the confidential information of the active substance or Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API).

  • New active substances
  • Existing active substances not included in the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.) or the pharmacopoeia of an EU Member State
  • Pharmacopoeial active substances included in the Ph. Eur. or in the pharmacopoeia of an EU Member State

An ASMF is submitted as the Applicant’s Part (Open Part) and the Restricted Part (Closed Part). There isn’t any differentiation of DMFs into parts.

  • Centralised Procedure (CP)
  • Decentralised Procedure (DCP)
  • Mutual Recognition Procedure (MRP)
  • National Procedure (NP)

Certificate of Suitability to the monographs of the European Pharmacopoeia (or) Certificate of suitability of monographs of the European Pharmacopoeia (or) Certification of suitability of European Pharmacopoeia monographs. It is also informally referred to as Certificate of Suitability (COS).

It is the certificate which is issued by the Certification of Substances Division of the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (EDQM), when the manufacturer of a substance provides proof that the quality of the substance is suitably controlled by the relevant monographs of the European Pharmacopoeia.

7 questions

ICH, CTD & dossiers

Harmonised formats for registration dossiers

The International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) is an initiative that brings together regulatory authorities and pharmaceutical industry to discuss scientific and technical aspects of pharmaceutical product development and registration.

With respect to format and contents in each module:

  • M4 Guideline
  • M4Q Guideline
  • M4S Guideline
  • M4E Guideline

The Common Technical Document (CTD) is a set of specifications for an application dossier for the registration of medicines, designed to be used across Europe, Japan and the United States. Quality, safety and efficacy information is assembled in a common format through the CTD. The CTD is maintained by the International Council for Harmonisation (ICH).

The CTD format for submission of drug registration applications/dossiers is widely accepted by regulatory authorities of other countries too, like Canada, Australia etc.

The Common Technical Document is divided into five modules:

  • Module 1: Administrative information and prescribing information
  • Module 2: Common Technical Document summaries (overview and summary of modules 3 to 5)
  • Module 3: Quality
  • Module 4: Nonclinical study reports (toxicology studies)
  • Module 5: Clinical study reports (clinical studies)

The ACTD consists of Parts I to IV which have subsections A to F, whereas the ICH-CTD has 5 modules with subsections that are numbered. The administrative data of Part I is part of the ACTD, whereas Module 1 of the ICH-CTD is purely country specific.

A regulatory dossier means all regulatory documents and filings registered with a drug regulatory authority for a marketing authorisation, containing the administrative, safety, efficacy, quality, non-clinical and clinical data and CMC data for the drug product as it may change from time to time.

A dossier is a collection of documents on a particular subject. Any preparation of a pharmaceutical product for human use goes through the process of reviewing and assessing the dossier of the pharmaceutical product, which contains detailed information about administrative, quality, non-clinical and clinical data.

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