Maintaining pharmaceutical regulatory compliance is essential if you supply and sell any kind of medication. It ensures that your products are safe to use and have high efficacy.
Pharmaceutical regulatory compliance refers to your adherence to laws and guidelines regarding the development, production, testing, distribution, and marketing of your pharmaceutical products. Such laws are stipulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and several other regulatory governing bodies.
Failure to adhere to these regulations can lead to hefty fines, loss of licenses, product recalls, and a damaged reputation. To help you avoid any of these things and ensure compliance with pharmaceutical rules and regulations in your company, we’ve got four top tips below.
Work With a Pharmaceutical Compliance Company
A pharmaceutical compliance company can help you to stay on the right side of the law and mitigate the risks associated with non-compliance.
Most pharmaceutical compliance companies offer the following services:
- Regulatory consulting to help you understand complicated rules and regulations.
- Auditing and assessments of your current operations to identify areas for improvement.
- Quality management system (QMS) development so you can develop and implement efficient processes.
- Risk management services to help you identify and mitigate risks wherever possible in your manufacturing, testing, and distribution processes.
You can hire a pharmaceutical regulatory compliance company to work with you on a one-off basis or in the long term. Make sure to do your research and find a company that is reliable, trustworthy, and reputable in the industry. Doing so can boost your own company’s reputation by ensuring full regulatory compliance.
Stay Up-to-Date With Regulatory Changes
Pharmaceutical laws and guidelines are forever changing, so it’s important to research the latest policies continually. You’ll need to know the most up-to-date laws regarding the designing, manufacturing, testing, and labeling of your products.
You can find accurate information on the official websites of regulatory bodies, such as the FDA, EMA, and MHRA. If you’re unsure about any legal changes or updates, contact a compliance company for advice.
Conduct Regular Audits
Regular audits are essential for every company, but they’re especially important for pharmaceutical businesses that are distributing medications, drugs, and vaccines. Conducting internal audits helps you to identify areas of non-compliance and parts of your business operations that need improving.
You can perform these audits internally or outsource them to a third-party company for a non-biased assessment of your business processes. Either option is great, as long as you make sure you’re auditing every area within your company.
Stay On Top of Risk Management
Risk management is crucial for regulatory compliance. You’ll need to closely examine your current strategies and procedures to identify potential risks.
Once you’ve identified all the possible risks in each stage of the pharmaceutical lifecycle, you can consider how to mitigate these risks. You can create a standard risk assessment to use across all areas in your company, as well as department-specific assessment protocols.
Article By John Moran