2. Introduction:
• Maintaining proper storage condition for pharmaceutical products and paramedical
is vital to ensure their quality, safety and efficacy.
• Factory stores will invariably be receiving duly approved raw materials and
packaging materials from third party.
• A suitable space is provided to raw material , handling of raw & packaging
materials required for manufacturing, including packaging of pharmaceuticals. This
space is known as Warehouse.
• It is a part of pharmaceutical company.
3. For what purpose ?
• To enable the fastest and cheapest transport of drugs
and medical equipment from suppliers to beneficiaries.
• There are mainly 3 stages:
1. Purchase of pharmaceutical products.
2. Storage of ordered products.
3. Distribution of stocked products
4. VARIOUS AREAS OF WARE HOUSING :-
• RECEVING AREA:- includes initial inspection, cleaning & weight
checking.
• SAMPLING AREA:- with adequate facilities to prevent cross
contamination.
• STORAGE AREA:- including specific storage like air condition rooms,
cold rooms, hazardous chemical storage room.
• REJECTED MATERIALS:- Destroyed or retented unsuitable.
• DISPENSING AREA:-with adequate facilities to preclude cross
contamination during dispensing.
5. The WHO guide to good storage practices for pharmaceuticals highlights
the following important areas for the warehousing of pharmaceuticals.
PERSONNEL:
• All sites where pharmaceutical products are stored (manufacturing unit,
distributor/wholesaler /retail sale pharmacy premises) must have a sufficient
number of appropriately qualified and trained personnel.
• The staff must be given the necessary training on good storage practices, the best
practices to adopt, and safety issues.
• They must also be trained on matters of personal hygiene, good sanitation
practices, use of working garments and suitable protective clothing.
• Those employees who work in special storage areas (such as cold stores, for
example) must be trained on the regulations and procedures particular to their
work.
6. PREMISES AND FACILITIES
Storage areas:
• Entry: Entry into storage areas must be controlled, and only
authorized persons must be permitted to enter.
• Size: The areas must be of a size sufficient to allow the systematic
storage of different categories of materials such as raw materials,
packaging materials, intermediate products, bulk products and
finished products. There must be separate areas for products in
quarantine, approved products and products that have been rejected,
returned or recalled from the market.
7. • Storage conditions: The storage areas must be designed to allow optimum storage
conditions. They must be dry and clean at all times. Temperature and relative humidity
must be maintained within the prescribed limits. There must be provisions to check,
monitor and record these parameters. All materials must be stored off the floor on racks
or pallets, with sufficient space in between to permit easy cleaning as well as inspection
if required. The pallets and racks must be kept clean and well-maintained.
• Cleanliness: The storage areas should be cleaned regularly to avoid the accumulation of
waste. Measures should be taken to prevent the entry of vermin. There must be written
instructions available that indicate the cleaning methods to be adopted and the
frequency of cleaning. Systems must be set up for pest control and written instructions
provided. Agents used for pest control must be safe, and not cause any contamination of
the materials being stored. Adequate measures must betaken to clean any product
spillage, in order to avoid the risk of contaminating other products in the storage area.
8. • External areas: Receiving and dispatch areas in the warehouse should be designed to protect
materials from weather conditions. The design of receiving areas should be such as to allow
cleaning of incoming materials before storage, if necessary.
• Quarantine areas — Areas meant for storage of products in quarantine must be clearly
indicated, and be situated separate from the general storage areas. Entry into this area must be
restricted to only those personnel who are authorized. Non-physical quarantine methods may be
used (computerized systems, for example) provided they are validated to prove they provide a
secure system equivalent to that of a physical quarantine.
• Sampling: Separate sampling area for starting materials must be provided in a controlled
environment. When sampling is done in the storage area itself, care must be taken to prevent
contamination of other products or cross-contamination. This area must be regularly cleaned.
• Storage of rejected, expired, returned or recalled materials or products: Separate areas must be
provided for storing rejected, expired, returned or recalled materials or products. Such materials
must be conspicuously market to avoid inadvertent mix-ups. Physical segregation is best; non-
physical systems (electronic)must be validated to prove they provide adequate levels of security.
9. • Special materials storage: Pharmaceutical products that are sensitive,
dangerous, hazardous, narcotic, radioactive and/or highly active as
well as substances with a risk of fire, explosion or abuse must be
stored in dedicated areas with sufficient security and safety measures
in place.
• Handling and distribution: All materials in the storage area must be
handled, stored and distributed in keeping with GMP guidelines.
Procedures must be designed to prevent mix-ups, contamination and
cross-contamination. Storage conditions should ensure quality is
maintained at all times.
• Rotation of stock: All stocks in the warehouse must be rotated
appropriately, following the “First Expired/First Out (FEFO)” principles.
10. • Rejected materials: Products and materials that have been rejected
must be clearly marked and controlled with a quarantine system that
prevents their use until their fate is decided.
• Narcotic drugs storage: Storage of narcotic drugs must comply with
international conventions as well as national laws regarding narcotic
storage.
• Damaged items: Damaged and broken items must be immediately
removed from the usable stock and stored separately until their fate
is decided.
• Lighting: Storage areas must be lighted appropriately to allow the safe
and accurate performance of all operations in the warehouse.
11. Storage Conditions
• All pharmaceutical materials and products must be stored in compliance with the
requirements specified on the respective labels.
• These specifications must be based on the results obtained during the stability testing of
the respective products.
• Storage conditions must be regularly monitored to ensure compliance with requirements.
• Recorded data(temperature, relative humidity etc.) must be available if required for
review. Data monitoring and recording equipment must be checked and calibrated at
predetermined intervals; results of these checks must be recorded and maintained for a
duration of shelf life of the product plus one year, or as specified in the national
regulations.
• Monitoring equipment must be located in those areas which are most likely to experience
fluctuations; this equipment must be regularly calibrated.
12. Storage requirements
Documentation:
• Instructions and records: Written instructions as well as records must
be available to document all activities taking place in the storage area,
including those related to expired stock handling. The route taken by
the products and information through the organization in case of
product recall must be described in sufficient detail.
• Information of each product: Each material or product stored must
have permanent information (in either written or electronic form) to
provide information regarding the storage conditions, precautions if
any to be observed, and dates for re-test. Labels must be in keeping
with requirements as per the respective pharmacopoeias and current
national regulations.
13. • Delivery records: Records must be maintained for every delivery, and
must include information regarding description of the goods, quantity,
quality, supplier and the batch number, receipt date, assigned batch
number and expiry date. These records must be retained for a
duration equal to shelf life of the goods plus one year or as specified
in the national regulations.
• Comprehensive records: All details regarding the materials and
pharmaceutical products received and issued in the warehouse must
be recorded and maintained by a specific system to permit their
identification such as by batch number.
14. Labelling and Container
• Storage containers: Pharmaceutical products and all materials must
be stored inappropriate containers so that their quality is not
affected. The containers must provide sufficient protection from
external factors such as bacterial contamination.
• Container labeling: The minimum labeling requirements for
containers include details of — name of the material with
pharmacopoeial reference where applicable(proper name only, no
code names or abbreviations can be used without authorization),
batch number, expiry date, re-test date and storage conditions to be
maintained.
16. Warning signs of problems with incoming
materials:
• Odors
• Moisture/fluid
• Spillage
• Dirt, tears, scratches, animal feces
• Damaged/tampered temperature tags
17. Stock Rotation and Control
• Periodically, the actual stock in the warehouse must be compared with the
recorded quantity of stocks.
• If such reconciliation reveals discrepancies, they must be investigated to find
out if material has been incorrectly issued or if there has been a mix-up.
• Containers that have been partly used must be closed and sealed securely to
prevent contamination and spoilage.
• Previously opened or partly used containers must be used up before fresh
containers are opened. Containers that have been damaged must not be
issued unless test shave shown that the quality of the product is unaffected by
the damage.
18. • Control of Obsolete and Outdated Products
Stock in the warehouse must be periodically checked and
expired/obsolete/outdated products and materials must be removed.
Until such material is removed, precautions must be taken to ensure
they are not issued for use.
19. RETURNED GOODS
• Goods whether returned or recalled from the market, must be
handled according to approved procedures. Records of the same
should be maintained.
• All such goods must be kept in quarantine until a decision has been
taken by the nominated, responsible person.
• Goods that pass a quality re-evaluation may be returned to stock
approved for sale. Records of such events must be maintained in the
stock records. Any pharmaceutical product returned by patients to
the pharmacy must be destroyed.
20. DISPATCH AND TRANSPORTATION OF GOODS
• The dispatch and transport of pharmaceutical products must be done under conditions that ensure
the prescribed storage conditions are maintained, and integrity of the product is not affected.
• When dry ice is used, care must be taken to ensure it does not come into contact with the product as
it may cause freezing of the product.
• When material is being transported, devices must be used to monitor temperature conditions;
records of such monitoring must be maintained.
• Any transportation must proceed only on receiving a delivery order. Documents must be maintained
showing the delivery order and dispatch details.
• External containers must be clearly labeled in indelible ink, and must provide adequate protection to
the product from weather conditions. Dispatch records must contain the following details at the very
minimum— dispatch date, customer name and address, product description (name, strength, dosage
form), quantity, batch number, storage conditions.
21. PRODUCT RECALL
• Appropriate procedures must be set in place for the prompt and
effective market recalls of known or suspected defective product.
Product recalls may be triggered by any of the following situations:
Customer complaints that draw attention to a critical quality defect
Reports of adverse drug reactions.
Samples retained for stability studies show deterioration of product quality.
GMP deviations uncovered during regulatory inspections.
Information becomes available indicating that counterfeit or tampered
product has been supplied in place of authentic drug.