What is a clean room?

A cleanroom (GMP cleanroom), in my mind, is a combination of engineering design, fabrication, finish and operational controls (control strategy) that are required to convert a “normal” room to a “clean room”. This blog will attempt to explain the necessary characteristics of a regulated company clean room not producing potent chemicals or active or hazardous biologicals. If there are significant containment requirements, the requirements would be outside the scope of a “simplistic” blog like this. In a pharmaceutical sense, clean rooms are those rooms that meet the code of GMP requirements as defined in the sterile code of GMP, i.e. Annex 1 of both the EU and PIC/S Guides to GMP and other standards and guidance as required by local health authorities.

So why do I need a clean room?

There is no GMP requirement in the EU and PIC/S (i.e. TGA) GMP guidance’s for the manufacture of non-sterile medicinal products in a “clean room”, but we do use clean areas that are effectively ventilated with filtered air where the products or open, clean containers are exposed. On the other hand, clean rooms are mandatory for the manufacture of sterile medicinal products, as defined in Annex 1 of the EU and PIC/S GMPs. This Annex defines many additional requirements besides the airborne particulate concentration limits used to classify clean rooms.

In a nutshell, if you manufacture a non-sterile medicinal product, you should be very careful about classifying or grading your clean areas, for example, classifying a room as “Grade D”. Whilst not a code requirement, many regulators, like the Australian TGA will expect you to fully comply with all of the requirements for a Grade D room as defined in Annex 1, even if it’s not a GMP code requirement. Therefore, if you have classified the room as Grade D, you will need to live with the consequences and costs of maintaining this level of cleanroom cleanliness during operation.

What type of clean room do I need?

If you are a manufacturer of non-sterile medicinal products, you should define your own cleanroom/area standards using national and international standards. Usually manufacturers will define an airborne particulate concentration standard class such as ISO 14644-1 ISO 8 (at rest), outline gowning and a pressure cascade regime, defining a “clean corridor” design or a “dirty corridor” design.

If you are a manufacturer of sterile medicinal products, you must follow the EU or PIC/S GMPs, namely Annex 1.