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What Is Environmental Monitoring in Pharmaceutical Industry
What Is Environmental Monitoring in Pharmaceutical Industry
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Last modified: March 19, 2023
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What is meant by environmental monitoring?
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Environmental monitoring is a documented program which describes the routine particulate and microbiological monitoring of processing and
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manufacturing areas. The program includes a corrective action plan when action levels are exceeded.
Environmental monitoring program provides you with meaningful information on the quality of the aseptic processing environment when a given
batch is being manufactured as well as environmental trends of the manufacturing area.
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When you establish an efficient program it can identify the potential routes of contamination, allowing for implementation of corrections before
contamination occurs.
Through environmental monitoring you can receive an insight of presence of contaminants in the environment where pharmaceutical products are
processed. You can check the effectiveness common processing steps such as cleaning, housekeeping, gowning, air handling etc. to ensure that
contaminants do not compromise the safety of your products.
Some pharmaceutical products e.g. injectable and vaccines are prepared in aseptic environments. These are also called cleanroom and controlled
environments. Processing areas are classified differently and require differential levels of monitoring. You must monitor controlled environments
appropriately as prescribed in your local regulatory guidelines and pharmaceutical industry practices.
You have to develop plans, policies, protocols and equipment to monitor your controlled environments appropriate for the use of that environment
for pharmaceutical productions. Environmental monitoring programs must be based on the processing requirements and risk assessment of the
area.
Even though environmental monitoring is most closely associated with aseptic processing, you should include monitoring of all environments at
different levels where products and their components are manufactured, especially where there is risk of product contamination.
The practice will facilitate you to maintain awareness of the microbiological environmental conditions during manufacturing activities.
You should develop room sampling plans in your monitoring practice to define type of testing, alert and action levels, frequency and location of test
samples to collect for air, surface and personnel monitoring.
Room sampling plans should consider the configuration of machinery and equipment in the room, airflow patterns (based on validation studies) as
well as personnel and material flows.
You should prepare rationale statements for room testing as well as for the determination of alert and/or action levels. Each environmental
monitoring program is unique to the product, process and plant.
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What
Aboutare the benefits of environmental monitoring?
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A robust environmental
GMP monitoring program will usually provide you an early notice of a breakdown in control measures if it is managed correctly.
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Monitoring is faqhowever a passive reading of the environment. It cannot be used to justify bad practice with supposedly good data. In such case all
that is indicated is that the environmental program is also poor.
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ThereUs should be a clear policy on when and to what level to identify microorganisms.
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To sum it up the environmental monitoring program:
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– Provides you with crucial information on the quality of the processing environment during manufacturing.
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– Helps you to aid the release decision and determine if a batch could potentially be contaminated.
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– Helps your firm to react on changes in the environment and thus allowing better control of the environment, which in turn will make the
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likelihood of contamination less
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What are other factors to consider during monitoring?
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In addition to air, surfaces and people monitoring, you should assess factors that can potentially contribute to contamination of the product during
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environmentalfaq monitoring plan. You should implement on-going monitoring of the factors such as:
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– Temperature
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– Humidity
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– Pressure differentials
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– HVAC system
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– Air within the classified and critical areas
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– Utilities that may contact open product or components
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– Equipment and critical surfaces within a classified or critical area
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– Sanitization
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– Operating personnel
What
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is an environmental monitoring plan?
It is necessary that you establish what to look for when designing an environmental monitoring plan, e.g. common aerobic bacteria, molds and/or
anaerobic bacteria.
It is equally important that you set the objectives of the environmental monitoring plan. Normally the plan should provide supporting data to
demonstrate the adequacy/performance of the contamination/environmental control measures taken.
– Surface monitoring
– Pre-filtration/pre-sterilization bioburden
You can use techniques such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) in order to focus a monitoring plan on where the product is at
greatest risk of contamination.
Product as well as process characteristics should be taken into account such as:
Product characteristics:
– Terminal sterilization versus Aseptic Processing
– Microbiological vulnerability
Process characteristics:
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– Process design
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– Product flow
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– Personnel flow and numbers
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– Working patterns (shifts?)
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– Plant occupancy and levels of activity
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– Points in process where the product is at greatest risk
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Generally,
Now your environmental monitoring plan should constitute in two parts.
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Firstly,
GMP prepare a general monitoring scheme that aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of maintenance, housekeeping, operator discipline
and compliance with established standards.
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For the general monitoring schemes, you will choose sampling locations which can adequately provide data on such parameters. The
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locations should provide good coverage of the whole cleanroom and associated areas such as
– Changing rooms,
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– Air locks
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– Preparation areas etc.
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faq prepare a batch/process specific scheme that aims to take account of individual processes and to provide batch specific information
Secondly,
on theContact
potential for product contamination. You can use these data as evidence in batch disposition process as well as for demonstrating
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compliance with established standards.
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For batch/process specific monitoring schemes you will choose sampling locations to reveal potential problems with process and/or product
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integrity.
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Your sampling points should reflect the process flow pattern and environmental monitoring should follow the product flow through the
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manufacturing
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In particular points in the process where the products and components are exposed to the environment should be taken into account.
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Your
Formssampling should generally include:
The confusion has since been exacerbated by the adoption of ISO cleanliness classification system standards ISO 14644-1:2015 by the USFDA.
Eudralex, Federal Standard 209 and ISO 14644-1 differ in detail but follow very similar number for maximum permitted number of particles (limits)
for respective particle size. Eudralex and Federal Standard 209 make reference to alert as well as action levels.
For your ease of understanding we have constructed the below table to demonstrate the difference and similarities between the three major
regulatory requirements.
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GMP Limits for Non-Viable Airborne Particulates
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Please note:
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i. FDA classifies cleanrooms from ISO 5 to ISO 8
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You plan for sampling frequency of environmental monitoring should depend on historical performance as well as changes to processes, plant and
procedures. Normally general sampling schemes are executed weekly and specific sampling schemes at each work session.
You can use the following example of sampling frequency of environmental monitoring in aseptic processing.
– Settle plate monitoring of the filling rooms will be completed for each session of each fill operation, maximum of 4-hour exposure.
– Glove prints and contact plate sampling of operator gowns will be performed by each filling operator in the Grade A (ISO 5) area prior to
leaving the room.
– Glove prints and contact plates will be performed by any other staff in the filling room prior to each exit.
NB: Glove prints or contact plates for gowns are not required on exit when the room is opened e.g. for cleaning, maintenance and certification
activities.
– Viable air sampling will be completed daily using suitable equipment (e.g. Merck MAS-100). Class A (ISO 5) areas will not be sampled
during
Home operation of the filling machine.
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– Non-viable particle counts will be completed continuously for each fill operation.
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GMPplate sampling other than gown samples will be performed at the end of each fill day.
– RODAC
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faq Environmental Monitoring will be completed one (1) day per 6 months and after major maintenance operations e.g. preventative
– At Rest
Contact certification activities etc.
maintenance,
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Your sampling plans should be approved, justified and contain clear schematics showing sample locations. Sampling procedures should contain
GMP regarding when testing should be performed, by whom, under what activity and method to use.
information
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Other key elements to consider in environmental monitoring plan
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Temperature
Quality and Relative Humidity Monitoring
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You should control and monitor the temperature and relative humidity of your facilities as appropriate. For the processing area, both of these factors
should be connected to an alarm system.
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If the temperature and humidity are elevated, personnel may begin to shed increasing numbers of skin cells and sweat causing more potential
contamination.
Home An approved SOP or procedure should be in place explaining what actions should be taken if a temperature or humidity excursion
occurs.About
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PressureGMP Differentials
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Appropriatefaqpressure differentials from room to room and area-to-area is necessary to prevent contamination of the drug product.
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Join maintain positive pressure differential between the most critical area and the next critical area. Pressure differentials should be
You should
Us and alarmed continuously.
monitored
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A typical pressure and airflow for the area should look something like that shown below:
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Cleanroom environment
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Typical pressure and airflow in aseptic area
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The flow of air should be out of the critical areas into the adjacent areas, unless the opposite is required due to safety or cross-contamination
reasons.
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Aboutareas, where product is exposed, should also be the cleanest areas, with the fewest numbers of particles and microbes.
The critical
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You should faq
monitor utilities including the HVAC system, the water system, and compressed gases that may come in contact with either the exposed
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product itself or the air that the product is exposed to.
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– Monitor compressed gases by testing for viable and non-viable particulates.
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– The Water for Injection (WFI) system should be monitored on a routine basis. Tests that should be performed include microbial quality and
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endotoxin tests as well as USP chemical tests. The reason for testing this water is that it may be used as a solvent for preparation of
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parenteral solutions and also for final product formulation.
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– You should also test the potable water, purified water, the feed water for WFI and component rinse water on a regular basis. Results of the
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tests should be analyzed for trends that might be developing.
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You should test the count of non-living particulates or particles that may contaminate a sterile product. This would include dust particles, dirt, rust,
tiny metal shavings, lint from a garment, human particulates and other sub-visible particles that can still contaminate a sterile product if they are
present in the environment.
Develop
Homea microbiological isolate identification program. The extent and frequency of identification should be risk based with the greatest emphasis
on any isolates from critical zones being identified.
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In order for GMP
you to determine if microorganisms are present, number of methods are in use. Some of the most common are:
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Surfaces testing
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1. Contact
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2. Swab method
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1. Settling Plate method
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2. Impaction/Impinger methods
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You should give considerations on the type and level of activities that represent actual filling processes. Some surfaces may be tested during
operations or before operations. Monitoring the surfaces every time, the aseptic processing area is used.
Critical surfaces within the filling area and personnel testing should be included as part of surface
testing. However, surfaces in critical zones should only be monitored after the completion of operations due to the risk of bringing microbiological
culture medium into the environment where critical activities are taking place.
Monitoring of surfaces in surrounding areas during operations also poses the risk of leaving residue of microbiological culture medium on the
sampled surface. You should only monitor these areas where absolutely necessary and with strict controls.
You should perform additional surface testing on randomly where personnel frequently come in contact with the processing area in an effort to
identify potential contamination sources.
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Examples are curtains surrounding the Class 100/grade A area, door plates, phones and tools.
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Contact plateGMP method:
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The contactfaq plate, or RODAC (Replicate Organism Direct Agar Contact) plate, consists of a solid general nutrient agar media, approximately 25cm
in diameter. Contact
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The sample
Us is taken by gently rolling the raise surface of the agar plate onto a flat or slightly curved surface for a defined time interval.
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After you conduct the test, wipe the area using a lint-free wipe soaked in disinfectant (isopropyl alcohol, IPA) to remove residual agar.
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colonies on the surface of the plate.
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1. Personnel gloves and gowns
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2. Filling room surfaces
SwabHome
testing method:
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The swab method is used to obtain a sample from small or irregularly shaped objects or surfaces. Samples are collected by swabbing the surface
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or object with a moistened sterile swab containing sterile diluent to assure uniform coverage of the sampled area.
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The swab isfaqthen transferred into a container with growth medium. The swab and container are then incubated at an appropriate temperature.
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– Swabbing small items in the filling room
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– Swabbing the interiors of small items
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How to monitor air for viable contaminants?
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You can sample microbes in air in number of ways. Passive sampling (e.g. settle plates) or dynamic sampling (e.g. impaction sampling) may be
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used to monitor the air depending on the requirements of the governing regulations and guidelines. Below are brief descriptions of some method.
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Settle
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An open petri dish of defined size, agar media and fill amount, is placed within the filling area for a defined period of time. This time period is
generally determined by the type and size of the settle plate. However, the norm is for exposure of 4 hours.
Particles
Search form the air fall onto the open plate and settle on the agar surface. At the end of the sampling time interval, the plate is then incubated at
pre-determined temperatures based on the common flora normally recovered at the local facility.
Impaction method:
You can collect samples using one or combination of three methods described below which are called impaction method. All of these methods are
considered dynamic because the air is drawn into a sampling chamber to be collected.
1. Slit-to-agar method:
This is considered an active sampling method. Through use of a vacuum pump, usually 1 Ft. area is pulled in through a slit with a calibrated width
and impacted onto a slowly moving agar plate under the slit.
After the sample is taken, the agar plate is incubated and colonies are counted.
2. Centrifugal method:
The sampler consists of a propeller that pulls a known volume of air into the unit and then propels the air outward to impact onto a nutrient agar
strip. After the sample is taken, the agar plate is incubated and colonies are counted.
The sampler is attached to a vacuum source that pulls room air, at a defined rate, through a top, perforated with calibrated holes. The air is then
impacted directly onto an agar plate and exhausts through the vacuum line. After the sample is taken, the agar plate is incubated and colonies are
counted.
It is important that you prepare a formal, documented gowning training program is in place. This program should include training in how to correctly
put on sterile garments and should also include periodic refresher training. This is necessary because each individual brings into the processing
area both particulate and microbial contamination.
Your personnel need to be routinely tested in conjunction with activities performed in the aseptic processing area. The EC Guide to Good
Manufacturing Practice – Revision to Annex 1 states that surfaces and personnel should be monitored after critical operations.
You can use RODAC (contact) plates during Personnel testing, usually on their gloves and different places on the gown.
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About monitor the personnel as soon as possible upon completion of critical tasks. You are expected to establish limits based on
You should
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recommendations from worldwide regulatory documents as well as data collected from monitoring.
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Summary faq
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the factors mentioned above need to be aligned and integrated to produce a clean environment for the processing of sterile drug products.
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If any GMP
one of them is not within limits or not working properly, it can affect the whole processing environment and jeopardize the sterility, integrity,
potency and quality of the final drug product.
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The goal of the environmental monitoring program is to control contamination through the rigorous monitoring of all of these factors and prevent
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loss of control through early detection.
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3 thoughts
Softwareon “What is environmental monitoring in pharmaceutical industry”
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1. Sam Schwarm says:
June 14, 2023 at 3:24 pm
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I’m a retired microbiologist,and noticed a relatively new product type on the market called probiotic cleaners. “Good bacteria “are sprayed to
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clean up bad bacteria (this is insane). Situational awareness should be raised regarding this product type lest it be inadvertently used by one
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of us. What do you think of probiotic cleaners?
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1. Contactadmin says:
Join June 15, 2023 at 1:18 am
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GMP Wow! This is really interesting news and worth to explore further.
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2. Blog Vimal modi says:
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June 14, 2023 at 1:41 pm
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Pl share QRM for if EM by air sampling is not performed
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