Blog

What are ICH guidelines?

The International Council for Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) is a global initiative that brings together regulatory authorities and pharmaceutical industry experts from around the world.

Its goal is to develop guidelines for pharmaceutical product development, registration, and post-approval. These guidelines cover various aspects of drug development, including quality, safety, efficacy, and multidisciplinary categories.

The Importance of ICH Guidelines

Global Alignment

While ICH guidelines are not mandatory regulations, they are widely accepted and recognized by regulatory bodies in many countries around the world.

One of the main advantages of ICH guidelines is their ability to promote harmonization of regulatory requirements among different parts of the globe. By providing a common framework, ICH guidelines streamline the registration of pharmaceutical products and facilitate global access to safe and effective medicine.

Quality Assurance

By providing standardized approaches to quality control, clinical trial design, safety assessment, and more, ICH guidelines help ensure that pharmaceutical products on the market meet high standards of quality, safety, and efficacy regardless of country of origin.

Efficiency and Cost Savings

Through establishing common principles and methodologies for drug development and regulation, ICH guidelines help smooth the drug development process and reduce costly regulatory barriers. This means cost savings for both the industry and regulatory agencies.

What is ICH stability testing?

ICH stability testing assesses how a drug product is affected by environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and light.

According to ICH stability guidelines, there are three basic stability tests to ensure that pharmaceutical products remain safe and effective throughout their shelf life:

1. Physical and chemical integrity: This stability test centres on the physical properties of a substance, including colour, pH level, odour, and texture.
2. Microbiological stability: This test targets microorganisms and examines the level of bacterial and mould contamination.
3. Packaging stability: This test evaluates how the packaging system of the product affects the stability of the drug contained within it.

Why use ICH stability chambers?

At Labworks International, our ICH stability chambers provide the controlled environmental conditions necessary for conducting stability studies in compliance with ICH guidelines.

With precise control over temperature, humidity, light, and other environmental factors, our stability chambers are able to simulate various storage conditions and provide reliable data for researchers to assess the long-term stability of pharmaceutical products.

Our team is well-versed in ICH Q1A requirements and is ready to assist you in designing your trial protocol. We offer a complete range of stability chamber designs with flexible performance parameters to suit your project’s needs. From lighting options to data logging capabilities, we will work with you to customize the chamber to meet your needs.

Understanding ICH Stability Guidelines

The ICH stability testing guidelines provide recommendations on the design and conduct of stability studies to ensure that pharmaceutical products are safe, effective, and of acceptable quality throughout their shelf life.

Q1A (R2): Stability Testing of New Drug Substances and Products

This guideline outlines the general principles for the design of stability studies, defining the types of studies required, the length of those studies, sampling frequencies, and testing methods.

Q1B: Photostability Testing of New Drug Substances and Products

This guideline provides specific recommendations for evaluating the effects of light exposure on pharmaceuticals and details the procedures for testing photostability, including lighting conditions and test duration.

Q1C: Stability Testing for New Dosage Forms

Q1C targets the stability testing requirements for new dosage forms of existing drugs in the market, ensuring that their stability is maintained even with changes in formulation.

Q1D: Bracketing and Matrixing Designs for Stability Testing of New Drug Substances and Products

This guideline describes the statistical approaches of bracketing and matrixing to reduce the number of stability tests required for different drug strengths, formulations, and packaging configurations.

Q1E: Stability Data Package for Registration Applications in Climatic Zones III and IV

This part of the ICH guidelines details the stability testing needs for products designed for climatic zones that have higher temperature and humidity levels.

ICH Storage and Stability Conditions for Testing

The ICH guidelines specify the ideal conditions for storing and conducting stability testing across three climate zones: the United States, Europe, and Japan. Here are the storage and stability conditions recommended by the ICH:

Long-Term Testing Conditions

Long-term testing evaluates a product’s stability over its proposed shelf life in the target market. For Zone I (temperate) and Zone II (subtropical with potential high humidity), this includes maintaining conditions at 25°C ± 2°C/60% RH ± 5% RH for 12 months or more and 30°C ± 2°C/65% RH ± 5% RH for 12 months or more, respectively.

Accelerated Testing Conditions

Accelerated testing assesses a product’s stability in a shorter time frame. Typical conditions for this type of testing are 40°C ± 2°C/75% RH ± 5% RH or 40°C ± 2°C/25% RH over six months.

Deviation from the recommended storage conditions may be accepted if the manufacturer can justify the adjustment based on product knowledge. Some potential reasons for altering the suggested storage parameters include alternative dosage forms or diverse product types such as biotechnological or biological drugs.

Choose Labworks International for Stability Chambers

Labworks International is the trusted stability chamber supplier in North America. We offer a range of fully customisable stability chambers that are designed to comply with FDA and Health Canada standards and ICH guidelines.

Our chambers are complete with stainless steel interiors and shelving, humidification, precise temperature control, light shelves, and more.

For more information about our stability chambers, speak to one of our team members today at 1-888-890-3334 or leave us a message here.