WARNING LETTER
Okamoto Rubber Products Co., Ltd.
MARCS-CMS 604564 —
February 14, 2020
Delivery Method:
VIA UNITED PARCEL SERVICE
Product:
Medical Devices
Recipient:
Recipient Name
Mr. Hideki Kaneuji
Recipient Title
President
Okamoto Rubber Products Co., Ltd.
60/50, 60/51 Moo 19 Navanakorn Industrial Estate Zone 2
Klongluang
Pathum Thani
12120
Thailand
Issuing Office:
Center for Devices and Radiological Health
10903 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring
,
MD
20993-0002
United States
February 14, 2020
WARNING LETTER
Dear Mr. Kaneuji:
During an inspection of your firm located in Klongluang, Pathumthani, Thailand on November 4, 2019, through November 7, 2019, an investigator from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that your firm manufactures lubricated natural rubber condoms. Under section 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act), 21 U.S.C. § 321(h), these products are devices because they are intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or to affect the structure or function of the body.
This inspection revealed that these devices are adulterated within the meaning of section 501(h) of the Act, 21 U.S.C. § 351(h), in that the methods used in, or the facilities or controls used for, their manufacture, packing, storage, or installation are not in conformity with the current good manufacturing practice requirements of the Quality System regulation found at Title 21,
Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR), Part 820. We received a response from Mr. Hideki Kaneuji, President, dated November 29, 2019, concerning our investigator’s observations noted on the Form FDA 483 (FDA 483), List of Inspectional Observations, which was issued to your firm. We address this response below, in relation to each of the noted violations. These violations include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Failure to adequately ensure that when the results of a process cannot be fully verified by subsequent inspection and test that the process shall be validated with a high degree of assurance and approved according to established procedure, as required by 21 CFR 820.75(a).
For example: During the manufacturing process of your firm’s natural latex condoms, procedure
(b)(4)
, Rev
(b)(4)
, Effective 16 Feb 17, allows the rework of the treatment process
(b)(4)
. Your firm has not validated the rework process for using the same coating material (e.g. cornstarch or silicone oil) in the drying stage of the rework process.
We reviewed your firm’s response and conclude that it is not adequate. Your firm stated that the rework process had not been validated because its SOP for Process Validation
(b)(4)
did not clearly define instances in which validation, including revalidation, is necessary. Your firm committed to revising its SOP for Process Validation to clearly define instances in which validation, including revalidation are necessary and train its personnel on the revised procedure. Your firm stated that it will review the procedure for rework of the treatment process
(b)(4)
and perform process validation where necessary in accordance with the revised process validation procedure. Your firm intends to review device history records for products between January 5, 2019, and October 31, 2019, and review conformance to ASTM D3492-08 at the time of release. However, your firm did not commit to a retrospective review of whether its inadequate SOP for Process Validation affected other areas of device manufacturing or caused other manufacturing processes to lack necessary validations. Additionally, documentation to support implementation of the described corrective action (updated procedures, training records, validation reports, etc.) was not provided for FDA review.
2. Failure to establish and maintain adequate procedures for implementing corrective and preventive action, as required by 21 CFR 820.100(a).
For example:
a) Documentation for Corrective Action Request (CAR) No. NC17/004 Approved July 13, 2017, states that the CAR was initiated due to the sample quantity chosen for a Quality Control inspection exceeding the sample size required by the sampling plan. Information provided by your firm revealed that the documentation for CAR No NC1/004 does not include adequate relevant documentation supporting the investigation of the cause of nonconformities relating to product, processes, and the quality system, nor does it contain adequate documentation of identification of the action(s) needed to correct and prevent recurrence of non-conforming product and other quality problems.
b) The corrective actions for an Observation from the previous FDA inspection required updating your firm’s procedure,
(b)(4)
, Corrective Action Procedure, to include the requirement to document the scope of the defect and the basis for determining the scope of the defect. The current revision of
(b)(4)
, Corrective Action Procedure, Rev
(b)(4)
, Effective 25 Feb 17, which implements this change is only approved in English and not yet approved in the native Thai language used for your firm’s quality system.
We reviewed your firm’s response and conclude that it is not adequate. With regards to example a) in the CAPA cite above, your firm stated that the CAPA procedure required the relevant information, but the form did not specifically call for employees to fill in that information. Your firm stated that it will update the form, train employees, and perform a retrospective review of CARs opened since February 2017, to assess whether details were missing from any CARs and update them if so. Your firm stated that it will update the document control procedure to ensure that procedures and instructions are consistent with associated forms, train its staff on this new procedure, and monitor effectiveness. However, no documentation of any of these updates has been submitted to FDA for review.
With regards to example b) in the CAPA cite above, your firm stated that the issue occurred because the document was issued in English instead of Thai first, and its procedures did not previously contemplate whether to translate documents into Thai, only into English. Your firm committed to translating its current CAPA procedure into Thai and implementing it. Your firm committed to updating its document control procedure to only issue documents in Thai and translate into English when necessary and to train its employees. However, your firm has not committed to reviewing all other documents that are available in English to ensure they have been implemented in the manufacturing setting in Thai. Your firm does not address how and/or why it failed to implement an updated CAPA procedure in the Thai language for over two years. Additionally, no documentation of any updates or employee training has been submitted to FDA for review.
3. Failure to establish and maintain adequate procedures to ensure that sampling methods are adequate for their intended use and to ensure that when changes occur the sampling plans are reviewed, as required by 21 CFR 820.250(b).
For example: Your firm’s procedure
(b)(4)
, allows in section 2.2.2 that results of the incoming inspection/testing for material properties can be referred to for the material properties in final inspections/testing of sealed condoms. However, the sampling size requirement for incoming inspections is different from the sample size requirement for final inspections as defined in form T/QA257 SAMPLING PLAN FOR INCOMING SEALED CONDOMS. The two procedures had inconsistent requirements for sample size.
We reviewed your firm’s response and conclude that it is not adequate. Your firm provided a cause statement that stated it had not previously identified the inconsistency between the documents related to the sampling plan and confirmed that testing was done in accordance with ISO 4074:2015 Natural rubber latex male condoms – Requirements and test methods. However, there is no documentation or description that addresses
why
your firm had not previously identified the inconsistency. Your firm provided a correction - updating its documents to be consistent and training its employees, but it is not clear how your firm will prevent future recurrence of inconsistent requirements in its documentation. The corrective action that your firm provided states that your firm will revise the document control procedure to require that related procedures are periodically reviewed for consistency, but this will not necessarily ensure that if/when a change is made to a document, all associated documents are reviewed at the time of the change. Additionally, no documentation was submitted for FDA to review to support implementation of of the correction(s) and corrective action(s).
U.S. federal agencies may be advised of the issuance of Warning Letters about devices so that they may take this information into account when considering the award of contracts. Additionally, premarket approval applications for Class III devices to which the Quality System regulation deviations are reasonably related will not be approved until the violations have been corrected.
Please notify this office in writing within fifteen business days from the date you receive this letter of the specific steps your firm has taken to correct the noted violations, including an explanation of how your firm plans to prevent these violations, or similar violations, from occurring again. Include documentation of the corrections and/or corrective action (which must address systemic problems) that your firm has taken. If your firm’s planned corrections and/or corrective actions will occur over time, please include a timetable for implementation of those activities. If corrections and/or corrective actions cannot be completed within fifteen business days, state the reason for the delay and the time within which these activities will be completed. Please provide a translation of documentation not in English to facilitate our review. We will notify you regarding the adequacy of your firm’s response(s) and the need to re-inspect your firm’s facility to verify that the appropriate corrections and/or corrective actions have been made.
Your firm’s response should be sent to: Food and Drug Administration, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Office of Regulatory Programs, Division of Regulatory Programs 2, FDA Inspections and Regulatory Audits Team, White Oak Building 66, Rm 3540, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20993. Refer to CMS case # 604564 when replying. If you have any questions about the contents of this letter, please contact: Monica Garcia, DHT3B Acting Assistant Director at
(420) 402-2791
(telephone) or monica.garcia@fda.hhs.gov (email).
Finally, you should know that this letter is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of the violations at your firm’s facility. It is your firm’s responsibility to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations administered by FDA. The specific violations noted in this letter and in the Inspectional Observations, FDA 483, issued at the close of the inspection may be symptomatic of serious problems in your firm’s manufacturing and quality management systems. Your firm should investigate and determine the causes of the violations, and take prompt actions to correct the violations and bring the products into compliance.
Sincerely yours,
/S/
Benjamin R. Fisher
Director
OHT 3: Office of Gastrorenal, ObGyn, General
Hospital and Urology Devices
Office of Product Evaluation and Quality
Center for Devices and Radiological Health
CC:
US AGENT:
Mr. Yu Tadano
Okamoto U.S.A., Inc.
3130 West Monroe Street
Sandusky, Ohio 44870
yutadano@okamotousa.com
Content current as of:
04/07/2020
Regulated Product(s)
Medical Devices