otc business process review – achievements and opportunities · otc business process review -...
TRANSCRIPT
OTC Business Process Review – achievements and opportunities
Dr Mayada Kayali Director, OTC Medicines Evaluation, Office of Medicines Authorisation, Market Authorisation, TGA ARCS Scientific Congress 2014
11 September 2014
Abstract • An update on the progress of the OTC BPR implementation • A look at the next steps and future plans • Common deficiencies seen in applications to date • Where should industry direct our improvement efforts with regards to submissions?
1 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Recap - objectives of the reforms Include: • More efficient and cost-effective evaluation processes, operating within an appropriate benefit/risk model • Greater transparency and predictability of the regulatory process • Improve the quality of OTC medicine applications lodged
2 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Recap - prior situation • Application categories very broad. (new products, variations, clones, notifications) • One process target time for all new product applications, ditto all variations • No screening upon submission, new data able to be added at any time • No limit on the number of RFIs Result: • Quality of submissions, and elapsed evaluation days, extremely variable • TGA in effect acting as pro bono consultant to some sponsors • Poor quality submissions diverting TGA effort from high quality submissions
3 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Prior situation • Lack of clarity about expectations • Wide divergence in processing times
4 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
The vision - ‘The beacon on the hill’ Perfectly clear guidelines + Perfect quality of applications
= No applications rendered ineffective = No S31 letters and associated ‘rework’ for industry and regulator = Shorter and much more predictable evaluation times
Benefits: • More efficient process for industry and regulator • Reduced time to market • More predictable product launch dates • Greater transparency of progress on the evaluation
5 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Key strategies • Establish nine risk categories for OTC medicines applications • For each category, define:
– application & data requirements – evaluation business process and clear steps within it – target times
• Require applications to be in common technical document (CTD) format (and ‘paperless’) • Upgrade the TGA IT system to:
– support better management by the TGA and industry of timelines and – remove the need for industry and regulator to deal with paper applications
6 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Simplified table showing 5 new application pathways
7 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Simplified table - 4 change application pathways
8 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Key features of the process • Applications formally screened by the regulator upon receipt • Incomplete applications not accepted for evaluation • A separate target timeline specified for processing each application category • No more than two opportunities (‘RFI’s) to clarify information submitted • Applicants to be able to monitor progress of applications through online access
9 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Overview: the new OTC medicines pre-market business process
10 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Screening - more detail • Applications formally screened upon receipt • Target screening time 20 working days (C1 = 5 WD) • One opportunity for applicant to remedy ‘minor oversights’ - these to be corrected within 5 working days • On completion of screening, formal letter of acceptance or otherwise Result: • Only ‘good’ applications are evaluated • Wastage of evaluation time is minimised • Processing of ‘good’ applications is quicker and more predictable
11 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Progress so far? Further opportunities? • Efficient and cost-effective evaluation processes, operating within an appropriate benefit/risk model? • Greater transparency and predictability of the regulatory • Process? • Improve the quality of OTC medicine applications lodged?
12 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
First stage targets (2012 consultation paper)
13 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
New Product Applications Preparation
and Lodgement
Preparation and
Lodgement
Preparation and
Lodgement
Preparation and
Lodgement
Preparation and
Lodgement
Evaluation1
Evaluation1
Evaluation1
Evaluation1
Evaluation1
Screening
Screening
Screening
Screening
Screening Finalisation
150 days
75 days
45
days
170 days
38 %*
15 %*
30 %*
15 %*
Decision Finalisation 210 days 2%
Decision
Leve
l 1
Leve
l 2
Leve
l 5
Leve
l 4
Leve
l 3
Changes to previously approved OTC Medicines Preparation
and Lodgement
Preparation and
Lodgement
Preparation and
Lodgement
Preparation and
Lodgement
Decision
Evaluation1
Evaluation1
Evaluation1
Evaluation1
Screening
Screening
Screening
Finalisation
Finalisation
64 days
170 days
20 days
120 days
70 % *
25% *
4% *
1% *
Decision
Leve
l C1
Leve
l C2
Leve
l C3
Leve
l C4
All target times are expressed in working days, and refer to the time taken for evaluation and decision by the TGA only
Last half year results - evaluation times*
14 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
*Acceptance of application to Delegate’s decision
Elapsed working days
Application type Number evaluated
Range Average Median
Target time (WD)
%within target time (KPI=80%) Minimum Maximum
N1 - clone 136 1 114 21 7 45 98
N2 - monograph 2 49 49 49 49 75 100
N3 39 33 147 97 91 150 100
N4 17 78 133 105 104 170 100
N5 3 na na na na 210 na
C1 – notifications 194 1 130 16 11 20 84
C2 170 1 129 40 33 64 98
C3 6 9 122 33 9 120 100
C4 3 69 69 69 69 170 100
Total 570
Results of evaluations - last half year
15 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Result
Application category Returned Withdrawn Rejected Approved Total
N1 – clone 0 5 0 131 136
N2 – monograph 0 0 0 2 2
N3 6 1 0 38 45
N4 6 0 1 17 24
N5 2 2 0 1 5
Average % 7% 4% 0% 89% 100%
C1 – notifications 0 10 0 184 194
C2 0 1 0 169 170
C3 0 0 0 6 6
C4 0 0 0 3 3
Average % 0% 3% 0% 97% 100%
Total 14 19 1 551 585
Results so far - efficiency, timeliness, visibility • Eradication of backlog over 18 month period, of approximately 500 applications that was present at the
beginning of the OTC reforms • Weighted average processing times for new medicine applications have reduced from approximately 131
working days to approximately 76 working days* • Weighted average processing times for variation applications have reduced from approximately 64 working
days to approximately 33 working days* • Upgrade to online application system
– eradicates need for applications on paper (reducing dossier creation, transport, processing and storage costs in industry and the TGA)
– provides enhanced online tracking of progress for each application for the applicant
*(baseline, calendar 2011)
16 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Remaining opportunities - TGA systems • Upgraded IT systems are still in their infancy • Fix elements of the industry interface that are still causing problems • Refine the internal system to streamline work practices further
– (this is likely to be ongoing ‘continuous improvement’)
17 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Remaining opportunities - evaluation process • Reduce variation in processing times to improve predictability
– introduction of workflow management – internal target times for each step in the evaluation phase – reorganise the internal handling of Clone applications
• Review total evaluation process target times – already done in April this year for C2 category – need further bedding down of internal IT systems before extending to other categories
• Introduce a target time for the initial evaluation phase – already introduced in April this year for C2 category – next candidates: N3, N4, N5 categories
18 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Remaining opportunities - streamline • Create additional monographs • Extend use of monographs, e.g.
– a monograph based N4 application with an umbrella segment • Looking to Health Canada for further ideas in adoption of the monograph concept
19 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Remaining opportunities - industry Be well versed in the guidelines before making a submission! • Comprehensive covering letter summarising all key points • LB submissions - fully consistent with the guideline (ARGOM Appendix 1) • Check - is there a need for equivalence data? • Stability studies: design, data, test methods
– eg. PET, minimum data requirements, etc. • Product Information document (PI) is in the required format
20 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Comprehensive covering letter - some points New registration applications • Product description, application level and why • Relationship with other products of Sponsor (e.g. line extension) • If a generic, nominate the originator product or a generically similar product Change applications • Describe nature and scope, and reason for wanting the change
– (do not simply rely on the change code) • If changes are complex/numerous, provide a changes table
– eg. current details, proposed details, reasons, comments, assurances, etc.
21 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities
Other aspects - some realities for industry C2 applications • More C2’s evaluated (year to June 30) than other application types • Individual C2 applications vary from extremely simple to quite complex • Hence working days for evaluation, and queue times, may vary considerably • So - target times will be met, but otherwise, total flexibility is needed Declarable excipients database • Never intended, nor possible, for it to be totally comprehensive • So (continuous improvement):
– if an ingredient is not on the database, please let us know – we will organise for it to be incorporated for the future
• Accessible documentation – no built in security that inhibits TGA access
22 OTC Business Process Review - achievements and opportunities