GUIDANCE DOCUMENT
Replacing Color Additives in Approved or Marketed Drug Products Draft Guidance for Industry May 2025
Not for implementation. Contains non-binding recommendations.
This guidance is being distributed for comment purposes only.
Submit Comments by
Although you can comment on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR 10.115(g)(5)), to ensure that the FDA considers your comment on a draft guidance before it begins work on the final version of the guidance, submit either online or written comments on the draft guidance before the close date.
If unable to submit comments online, please mail written comments to:
Dockets Management
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, Rm 1061
Rockville, MD 20852
All written comments should be identified with this document's docket number: FDA-2025-D-0507
- Docket Number:
- FDA-2025-D-0507
- Issued by:
-
Guidance Issuing OfficeCenter for Drug Evaluation and Research
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of a draft guidance for industry entitled “Replacing Color Additives in Approved or Marketed Drug Products.” This draft guidance provides recommendations for replacing color additives in approved or marketed drug products. If a color additive is replaced in a drug product, information to support the change should be retained and available at the manufacturing facility. Additionally, this draft guidance recommends that new drug application (NDA) and abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) holders submit information to support color additive replacements in changes being effected in 30 days (CBE-30) supplements. Although a qualitative or quantitative change to an inactive ingredient is generally considered a major change, in many cases, replacing a color additive with one that is listed in the color additive regulations is unlikely to adversely affect the identity, strength, quality, purity, or potency of the drug product. Therefore, this draft guidance recommends a CBE-30 for such a change.