§ 226.40 Production and control procedures.

Production and control procedures shall include all reasonable precautions, including the following, to assure that the Type A medicated article(s) produced have the identity, strength, quality, and purity they purport to possess: (a) Each critical step in the process, such as the selection, weighing, and measuring of components; the addition of drug components during the process; weighing and measuring during various stages of the processing; and the determination of the finished yield, shall be performed by one or more competent, responsible individuals. If such steps in the processing are controlled by precision, automatic, mechanical, or electronic equipment, their proper performance shall be adequately checked by one or more competent, responsible individuals. (b) All containers to be used for undiluted drugs, drug components, intermediate mixtures thereof, and Type A medicated article(s) shall be received, adequately identified, and properly stored and handled in a manner adequate to avoid mixups and contamination. (c) Equipment, including dust-control and other equipment, such as that used for holding and returning recovered or flush-out materials back into production, shall be maintained and operated in a manner to avoid contamination of the Type A medicated article(s) and to insure the integrity of the finished product. (d) Competent and responsible personnel shall check actual against theoretical yield of a batch of Type A medicated article(s), and, in the event of any significant discrepancies, key personnel shall prevent distribution of the batch in question and other associated batches of Type A medicated article(s) that may have been involved in a mixup with it. (e) Adequate procedures for cleaning of those parts of storage, mixing conveying and other equipment coming in contact with the drug component of the Type A medicated article(s) shall be used to avoid contamination of Type A medicated article(s). (f) If there is sequential production of batches of a Type A medicated article(s) containing the same drug component (or components) at the same or lower levels, there shall be sufficient safeguards to avoid any buildup above the specified levels of the drug components in any of the batches of the Type A medicated article(s). (g) Production and control procedures shall include provision for discontinuing distribution of any Type A medicated article(s) found by the assay procedures, or other controls performed to fail to conform to appropriate specifications. Distribution of subsequent production of such Type A medicated article(s) shall not begin until it has been determined that proper control procedures have been established.