Manufacturing readiness varied considerably among MAP developers, with MRLs ranging from early manufacturing concepts to advanced pilot line capability. Readiness also varied for different manufacturing categories, with developers generally reporting the highest MRLs in Technology & industrial base, Quality management, and Materials categories, whereas the Cost & funding, Manufacturing personnel, and Process capability & control categories were generally in earlier stages.
It is notable that although the few pharmaceutical MAP products that are closest to licensure are mainly of the solid-coated type, the average readiness for dissolving MAP technology was found to be either equal to, or more advanced than, solid-coated MAP technology in all manufacturing categories. This may have been due to the specific solid-coated MAP developers that responded to the survey.
The manufacturing gaps and barriers to scaled manufacturing discussed in follow-up interviews included quality issues, sterility requirements, and CMO availability. These barriers also align with feedback raised by stakeholders during the MAP Manufacturing Workshop.
Quality requirements and quality control methods
A major barrier to entry for MAP developers is that this product class is lacking precedent, with minimal guidance documentation available for the design, development, and testing of MAPs; therefore, developers need to defend their own performance requirements for each new product. Through the MAP Center of Excellence, PATH has partnered with Cardiff University in Wales to establish a Regulatory Working Group to facilitate collaboration among MAP developers, regulatory authorities, and public health stakeholders in order to define the MAP delivery system and identify critical quality attributes, develop standardized test methods, and evaluate sterility requirements for the technology class [16].
For high-speed production of MAPs, novel technological innovations are likely to be needed to facilitate nondestructive in-line quality control, such as automated visual inspection of micron-scale MAP projections.
Sterility requirements and aseptic manufacturing
Since MAP technology falls somewhere between transdermal patches, which can be produced in low-bioburden environments, and intradermal injection technologies, which must be produced aseptically, it is unclear what level of sterility assurance will be required by regulators for commercial MAP products. The three possible manufacturing routes for MAP products are aseptic manufacturing, low-bioburden manufacturing followed by terminal sterilization, and low-bioburden-only manufacturing. Since some active pharmaceutical ingredients in vaccines and biologics cannot withstand terminal sterilization, developers must decide whether to expend significant resources pursuing aseptic production or instead develop a lower-cost, low-bioburden process and risk being denied approval by regulatory authorities if they are unable to demonstrate an acceptable level of risk.
Safety risks associated with low-bioburden manufacturing center around the potential of a MAP to cause a local infection (adverse event), which could lead to complications such as systemic infection. Studies have shown that because MAPs physically disrupt the skin barrier, microorganisms can penetrate beyond the stratum corneum—but not the epidermis (whereas a 21-gauge hypodermic needle has been shown to allow this). This suggests that a local or systemic infection is highly unlikely from use of MAPs [17]. Due to the lack of clinical precedent, justifying the acceptability of non-aseptic production would require a risk-based evaluation/testing effort, but the end result may be substantial reductions in manufacturing costs. This topic is also the subject of review by the MAP Regulatory Working Group. However, most developers are taking the conservative approach of using aseptic manufacturing for MAPs that cannot be terminally sterilized.
Two of the complexities associated with aseptic manufacturing are the sterility requirements for MAP component materials that must be introduced into the production line (e.g., formulations, molds, packaging) and more extensive sterile product monitoring requirements, both of which are anticipated to increase the manufacturing costs [18]. Thus, significant investment in manufacturing would likely be required to scale up MAP manufacturing for late-stage clinical trials and/or production manufacturing [1,19].
The drying process is also complicated by potential aseptic requirements—particularly for dissolving MAPs. Compared with solid-coated MAPs that can be dried rapidly (due to their comparatively small liquid volume), the larger liquid volume of dissolving MAPs requires longer drying times to form the microprojections that encapsulate the active pharmaceutical ingredient. If the manufacturer uses a continuous production line to achieve high production volumes, the drying step could significantly increase the manufacturing floor space and number of isolators required to maintain an aseptic environment during drying as well as increase the risk of product loss as a result of line shutdowns. Most of the survey respondents we interviewed who were focusing on dissolving MAPs identified drying as a significant design challenge. Therefore, continued research in this area should be prioritized.
Contract manufacturing organization availability
For traditional injectable pharmaceutical packaging technologies, such as vials and prefilled syringes, there are numerous CMOs available to implement both pilot- and production-scale filling runs using standardized filling equipment designed for these delivery devices. This significantly decreases the capital requirements for developers when engaging in early development and testing efforts. However, during the developer interviews, respondents commented that there were very few, if any, CMOs capable of supporting clinical trials with production of MAPs at a level of quality consistent with good manufacturing practice guidelines. Several barriers impede CMOs from pursuing MAP manufacturing capabilities. First, there is a risk that CMOs may invest resources in a production line for a MAP type (e.g., solid-coated vs. dissolving) that is not prioritized by developers. In addition, since turnkey production equipment is not available for most MAP technologies, it is difficult for CMOs to design manufacturing lines without established development partners. Finally, installing a MAP manufacturing line requires significant time, space, and finances that could be used on more reliable product lines (such as vial filling or blow-fill-seal manufacturing). These requirements would be even higher if aseptic manufacturing is required.
These issues facing CMOs are the same as those facing individual MAP developers; thus, if CMOs are incentivized to develop MAP production capacity, it could defray high initial costs for developers and help accelerate progress.
Limitations of the survey
The data presented here reflect the manufacturing status of the MAP developers who completed the online survey, which is a portion of known MAP developers. The data are self-reported; as such, the MRLs generated by our analysis are based on the developers’ perspectives and may not reflect their actual status. During the follow-up interviews, efforts were made to validate the online survey responses.