Biopharma Business

Biopharmaceutical, analytical and bioanalytical contract solutions provider, SGS has announced that it is expanding its elemental analysis and testing capabilities at its Villeneuve-la-Garenne, France laboratory.

The site has invested in a new inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) system, in a move to address the updated ICH Q3D regulatory guidelines on elemental impurities. The new guidelines, published in December 2014, require that a risk analysis is deployed for all drug products on the specified list of elements and their permitted daily exposure (PDE) limits. The guideline came into effect in June 2016 for new drug products, and existing products will have to comply by December 2017.

The new instrument, a Thermo ICP-MS: iCAP RQ C2 – ICP-MS quadrupole analyser, is said to offer accurate, high-throughput testing, and is currently undergoing validation. It is expected to be fully operational by the end of February 2017. The investment complements the atomic absorption spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP/OES) and ICP-MS systems already located at the facility.

Paul Beyou, general manager of SGS’s Villeneuve-la-Garenne facility said: “With this investment, SGS and its dedicated elemental impurities team are in a position to support pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies through the challenges of the new regulatory guidelines. SGS is dedicated to offering its clients access to the very latest technology and expertise to ensure regulatory demands can be met efficiently and with no disruption to developmental timelines.”