Raising the standard: changes to the Australian Code of Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) for human blood and blood components, human tissues and human cellular therapy products.

In Australia, manufacture of blood, tissues and biologicals must comply with the federal laws and meet the requirements of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Manufacturing Principles as outlined in the current Code of Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP). The Therapeutic Goods Order (TGO) No. 88 was announced concurrently with the new cGMP, as a new standard for therapeutic goods. This order constitutes a minimum standard for human blood, tissues and cellular therapeutic goods aimed at minimising the risk of infectious disease transmission. The order sets out specific requirements relating to donor selection, donor testing and minimisation of infectious disease transmission from collection and manufacture of these products. The Therapeutic Goods Manufacturing Principles Determination No. 1 of 2013 references the human blood and blood components, human tissues and human cellular therapy products 2013 (2013 cGMP). The name change for the 2013 cGMP has allowed a broadening of the scope of products to include human cellular therapy products. It is difficult to directly compare versions of the code as deletion of some clauses has not changed the requirements to be met, as they are found elsewhere amongst the various guidelines provided. Many sections that were specific for blood and blood components are now less prescriptive and apply to a wider range of cellular therapies, but the general overall intent remains the same. Use of 'should' throughout the document instead of 'must' allows flexibility for alternative processes, but these systems will still require justification by relevant logical argument and validation data to be acceptable to TGA. The cGMP has seemingly evolved so that specific issues identified at audit over the last decade have now been formalised in the new version. There is a notable risk management approach applied to most areas that refer to process justification and decision making. These requirements commenced on 31 May 2013 and a 12 month transition period applies for implementation by manufacturers. The cGMP and TGO update follows the implementation of the TGA regulatory biologicals framework for cell and tissue based therapies announced in 2011. One implication for licenced TGA facilities is that they must implement the 2013 cGMP, TGO 88 and other relevant TGOs together, as they are intricately linked. This review is intended to assist manufacturers by comparing the 2000 version of the cGMP, to the new 2013 cGMP, noting that the new Code extends to include human cellular therapy products.