US FDA upgrades Jubilant's troubled Washington plant to VAI

By Dan Stanton

- Last updated on GMT

The Spokane, Washington plant has been upgraded to Voluntary Action Indicated (VAI)
The Spokane, Washington plant has been upgraded to Voluntary Action Indicated (VAI)

Related tags Food and drug administration

A Jubilant HollisterStier sterile manufacturing facility hit with a warning letter in 2013 has been upgraded following inspections by the US FDA last year.

In November 2013, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter​ to the site in Spokane, Washington after an inspection found the drug and ingredient maker had committed a number of cGMP violations including the “failure to assure an adequate system for cleaning and disinfecting aseptic processing areas and equipment.”

But in a letter filed Friday with the Bombay Stock Exchange, the contract manufacturing organisation’s (CMO) parent company Jubilant Life Sciences said the regulatory agency has upgraded the plant from the status of Official Action Indicated (OAI) to Voluntary Action Indicated (VAI).

“Jubilant remains committed to continuous improvements to maintain compliance at all its pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities across the globe,”​ said Jubilant’s Chairman Shyam Bhartia and Co-Chairman Hari  Bhartia in a joint statement.

“We consider this development as another step towards building a reliable and sustainable pharmaceutical business.”

The Spokane site consists of two manufacturing complexes offering customers aseptic filling and lyophilisation, producing batch sizes from 20 to 3,000L.

Other violations cited in the 2013 letter were the presence of unknown impurities in a finished product which led to a voluntary recall, and issues with the firm’s lack of provisions “for adequate impact evaluation of significant maintenance shutdowns.”

The firm also has a sterile filling and lyophilisation site in Montreal, Canada which was hit with a warning letter​ in February 2013 after FDA inspectors observed water running on the floor between the equipment wash room and the corridor leading to the vial filling area. A close-out letter​ was issued in September 2014.

Related news

Show more

Related products

show more

Pulmonary Delivery of Orally Inhaled Therapeutics

Pulmonary Delivery of Orally Inhaled Therapeutics

Content provided by Catalent Pharma Solutions | 19-Oct-2023 | Business Advice

New classes and indications of orally inhaled therapeutics are rapidly expanding, with the development pipeline increasingly featuring both large and small...

Addressing Challenges with Clinical In-Use Testing

Addressing Challenges with Clinical In-Use Testing

Content provided by Lonza | 12-Oct-2023 | White Paper

Lonza Drug Product expert Léa Sorret PhD explores Clinical In-Use Testing of Biotherapeutics in this white paper. Léa shares her expertise and describes...

Manufacturing Drugs with Highly Potent APIs

Manufacturing Drugs with Highly Potent APIs

Content provided by Altasciences | 28-Sep-2023 | White Paper

In this issue of The Altascientist, we examine the critical considerations for the safe and compliant manufacture of drugs with highly potent APIs (HPAPIs),...

Related suppliers

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars