FDA warns Globus subsidiary HBT over ViaCell production facility issues

The FDA this week released a warning letter it sent to a Globus Medical (NYSE:GMED) subsidiary Human Biologics of Texas, which produces the company’s ViaCell allograft product, over issues it found during an inspection of the facility in April.

The federal watchdog noted multiple infractions during the initial inspection, and also provided a response to corrective actions the company said it was taking in response to the earlier noted issues.

In its in inspection, FDA investigators noted failures to document and investigate deviations in its production of the ViaCell product as well as trends of deviations away from the agency’s core current good tissue practice requirements.

“For example, since the start of ViaCell processing in October 2016 through August 2017, you have had monthly sterility failure rates of [redacted] during seven of those months, with one month having a sterility failure rate of [redacted]. Your firm failed to conduct an investigation of all these sterility failures to determine the cause. You also failed to investigate additional sterility failures that occurred from October 2017 through February 2018. By neglecting to identify the cause of the sterility failures, you also failed to take appropriate corrective action(s) to prevent recurrence of the failures,” the FDA wrote in its letter.

The agency also noted a failure to “validate and approve a process according to established procedures where the results of processing cannot be fully verified by subsequent inspections and tests,” according go the FDA notice. The example provided again related to the facility’s ViaCell manufacturing process.

The federal watchdog said that it has received two responses from the company so far this year, but outlined some “comments and concerns” in relation to their corrective actions.

The FDA said that it received a response in May outlining corrective actions, but voiced concerns that the actions mostly focus on sterility testing which it said were not reliable, and did not address validation issues with the ViaCell manufacturing process. The agency also noted that while the company reported a decrease in sterility failure rate, it did not discuss plans to “determine the cause of the sterility failures” or why the rate of failures was so high.

The federal watchdog also posted a response to a letter received in September with concerns over the company’s corrective steps.

In its response, Globus’ HBT subsidiary said that it launched additional validation activities covering ViaCell production in May, but the FDA stated that its concerns about the firm’s validation of the ViaCell production process remain.

The agency noted a number of issues it has with the company’s corrective process, including another noted reliance on sterility testing and concerns over possible contamination during processing.

“A disinfection or sterilization process must be validated based on the capability of that process to reduce or eliminate an expected level and mix of microorganisms on the particular product that will be put through the process. Thus, you should carefully consider the capability of your microbiological testing, disinfection, and sterilization processes when you evaluate pre-processing cultures to determine whether or not the HCT/Ps should be processed,” the FDA wrote in its notice.

The FDA also knocked the company on not excluding or discarding samples from donors positive for Clostridium, Streptococcus pyogenes or “any other microorganism that you have determined to be difficult to eliminate, unless you have a terminal sterilization process validated to a sterility assurance level of 10^-6.”

In its last point, the agency referenced a lack of positive results from all environmental and personnel monitoring sample testing, saying that having producing no positives is “highly unusual, especially when your sterility failure rates were so high.”

“We strongly suggest you review your environmental monitoring program to ensure that it is capable of detecting microorganisms in your environment and on your personnel,” the federal watchdog wrote.

The FDA gave the company 15 working days to respond to the issues.

Last month, Globus Medical posted third quarter earnings that handily topped expectations from analysts on Wall Street.

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