DRAP issued Consolidated Notification for Regulatory Fees

Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) issued a consolidated notification of Regulatory fess for various functions and services. This notification is issued under the section (1) of section 20 of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan Act, 2012 (XX.I of 2012) read with sub-rule (3) of rule 4 of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Fee and Levy) Rules, 2022, and in supersession of all such previous Notifications. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan with the approval of the Policy Board has specified these regulatory fees. The Notification is provided as under: –

DRAP issued Consolidated Guidance Document on Good Manufacturing Practices for Manufacturing Sites of Drugs.

To ensures the quality of drugs and compliance with its Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP), DRAP monitor the manufacturers to ensure compliance to minimum requirements for the methods, facilities, and controls used in manufacturing, processing, and packing of a drug product.  These Good Manufacturing Practices are intended to make sure that a product is safe for use, and meet the prescribed standard of quality.

Although the Drugs (Licensing, Registering & Advertising) Rules, 1976 under the Drugs Act, 1976 provides detail requirements on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), however, DRAP intended to provide a compiled GMP guidance document stipulating Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan’s (DRAP) expectations on GMP from pharmaceutical & biological drugs manufacturers.

This Guideline is intended to provide guidance regarding the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for the manufacturing of pharmaceutical & biological drug in accordance with the Drugs (Licensing, Registering & Advertising) Rules, 1976, under the Drugs Act, 1976, the good manufacturing practices aim at ensuring that:

  1. Products are consistently produced and controlled to the quality standards appropriate to their intended use
  2. Products are manufactured as required by the marketing authorization or product specification; and
  3. All those risks have been diminished that are inherent in any pharmaceutical / biological production operation, including contamination, cross contamination and mix ups (confusion) that cannot be detected completely through the testing of final products.

This document will help industry and Regulators to conform the requirement of GMP for production, verification, and validation of manufactured products and ensure that they are effective and safe.

Stakeholder Comments are invited on the Draft Therapeutic Goods (Federal Inspectors, Laboratories and Federal Government Analysts) Rules, 2022

Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan Act, 2012 provides the legal mandate to inspect and enforce GXPs through out the supply chain of therapeutic Goods. Inspection of establishments is an essential regulatory function, to monitor the regulatory compliance to ensure that operations at these establishments are carried out in accordance with approved standards, conditions, guidelines and legislations. The scope of the Inspections applies to different Good Practices (GXPs) including Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), Good Distribution Practices(GDPs) and Good Clinical Practices (GCPs), etc.

DRAP Act 2012, under its Schedule-V provides the legal provisions for appointment, powers and procedures for working of Inspectors. These draft rules are intended to replace the existing Drugs (Federal Inspectors, Federal Drug Laboratory and Federal Government Analyst) Rules, 1976 and are aimed at converting Inspection activities to be based on a risk management approach, capable of revealing weaknesses and deficiencies in the production, quality control, storage or distribution of therapeutic goods, as well as to devise a uniform procedures for taking regulatory actions and handling of products with suspected quality defects or identified as substandard and falsified.

These draft Therapeutic Goods (Federal Inspectors, Laboratories and Federal Government Analysts) Rules, 2022 were uploaded on the official website of DRAP dated 24th November, 2022, seeking comments and suggestions from stakeholders on the draft rules. Stakeholders can submit their comments and suggestions within 14 days of uploading this draft using prescribed format, (further information on comments submission is available on this link). Comments and suggestions can be forwarded via email to aamar.latifdra.gov.pk , copying at ajmal.shoaildra.gov.pk , or can be posted at mailing address, Additional Director, Division of Legal Affairs, Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, 1st floor, TF Complex, 7th Mauve Area, G-9/4, Islamabad.

Proposed amendments in the Rules : DRAP invites comments from stakeholders and public on the draft amendments in the Drugs (Licensing, Registering and Advertising) Rules, 1976;

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has issued a proposal to amend the current version of the Drugs (Licensing, Registering and Advertising) Rules, 1976. The proposed amendments relates to the minimum area requirement for establishment of a pharmaceutical manufacturing units and adoption of Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation / Scheme (PIC/S) Guidelines for Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), in order to further align more closely with the international standards and best practices, as practiced by many other regulatory authorities around the world.

The DRAP proposes to do so primarily by incorporating the provisos to enable manufactures and regulators to follow principles set by the Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation / Scheme (PIC/S) to maintain the quality standards at an acceptable level. PIC/s guidelines provide comprehensive guidance for both industry and regulators on various aspects of Good Manufacturing Practices.

DRAP has the mandate to issue guidelines and to monitor enforcement of licensing of manufacture of therapeutic goods and to implement internationally recognized standards under Section 7(c)(i) & (ix) of the DRAP Act, 2012. Control of environmental conditions for pharmaceutical industry is essential to manufacture quality products. and implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) guidelines is critical to ensure the proper design, monitoring, and control of the manufacturing processes and facilities.

Stakeholders can submit their comments within 14 (fourteen) days of the publication of this Notification in the official Gazette of Pakistan using prescribed format, via email to aamar.latifdra.gov.pk, or can be posted at mailing address, Deputy Director, Division of Legal Affairs, Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, 1st floor, TF Complex, 7th Mauve Area, G-9/4, Islamabad. Further information on comments submission can be accessed on this link.

SRO 778 (I)/2022 dated 10th June, 2022