Qualification of impurities based on metabolite data.

Regulatory Guidance documents ICH Q3A (R2) and ICH Q3B (R2) state that "impurities that are also significant metabolites present in animal and/or human studies are generally considered qualified". However, no guidance is provided regarding data requirements for qualification, nor is a definition of the term "significant metabolite" provided. An opportunity is provided to define those categories and potentially avoid separate toxicity studies to qualify impurities.

Legacy data sharing to improve drug safety assessment: the eTOX project.

The sharing of legacy preclinical safety data among pharmaceutical companies and its integration with other information sources offers unprecedented opportunities to improve the early assessment of drug safety. Here, we discuss the experience of the eTOX project, which was established through the Innovative Medicines Initiative to explore this possibility.