On 14-15 September 2010 in London, UK, iSmithers will host its third international conference "Extractables  & Leachables for Pharmaceutical Products 2010", providing insight into the impact of extractables and leachables (E&L) on the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Patient safety is of upmost importance to the pharmaceutical industry and the risk of polymers interacting with a drug product, and in the worst case scenario making the dose toxic, is not a risk any participant in the industry will take. Therefore new drug development is a rigorous process that must illustrate the extent to which they have investigated E&Ls and proved that if any, they are of no harm to the consumer.

Regulatory authorities have set E&L standards and the pharmaceutical industry has proactively responded with industry organisations releasing best practice guidelines. However, E&Ls have had implications throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain, as pharmaceutical companies are requesting increasing information from their suppliers as to the polymers being used in both the manufacturing and packaging of drugs.

Extractables & Leachables for Pharmaceutical Products 2010 will be looking at the E&L responsibilities at every level of the pharmaceutical supply chain, in a continuation of the debate started at the 2009. Therefore, iSmithers is calling for presentations from raw material suppliers, converters, processors, packaging producers, drug product manufacturers and industry groups to talk about their E&L expectations.

If you would like to present a paper at this conference, please send a title, short summary, speaker name(s) and company name(s) to Alix Reeves email areeves@ismithers.net or Fax +44(0)1939 252416 by the deadline of 19 March 2010.