inspection

The pharmacovigilance audit universe is not limited to the distributors, business partners, affiliates,and vendors / service providers. One also needs to consider pharmacovigilance processes as well as processes of cross-functional departments which may have a direct or indirect impact on patient safety compliance. These processes are not limited to: Information Technology (including Safety database) Of […]

The Pharmacovigilance System Master File (PSMF) stands as a crucial document in the realm of Good Pharmacovigilance Practice (GVP). It has been a cornerstone of the guidelines put forth by the European Medicines Agency back in 2012. Regular ad-hoc reviews of the PSMF are a common practice, particularly during audits or due diligence processes. It […]

A pharmaceutical company is any commercial entity that may be associated with research, manufacturing, commercialization or distribution of medicinal products. This entity may or may not own the product license, and this factor may decide if this entity will or will not fall under the purview of pharmacovigilance regulations. That doesn’t prevent the company personnel […]

It was July 2012 when the European Medicines Agency made it mandatory for all the marketing authorization holders (MAH) to maintain the Pharmacovigilance System Master File (PSMF) as per the GVP Module II. Until then, the document was a concise one and called as the detailed description of Pharmacovigilance system (DDPS). After the PSMF came […]

Although remote audits and inspections have become a norm after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the limitations of remote auditing remain! There is no doubt that remote audits cannot take precedence over on-site or face-to-face audits. Hence, a middle path is needed, primarily when the whole industry evaluates using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning […]

Apart from Pharmacovigilance department, there are various allied departments that get reviewed during the inspection. The success of the Pharmacovigilance inspection is largely dependent on how the cross-functional stakeholders have fared. That would also mean that the Pharmacovigilance department needs to ensure that these stakeholders perform their work properly. Pharmacovigilance Department (Primary) Secondary: How about […]

In the past, Inspections/ audits were synonymous with ‘travel’- both domestic and International, but it is not the norm these days. In 2020, when the Covid-19 crisis plagued the Pharmaceutical industry, many companies had to compromise on their annual audit plans and schedules. With the BCP measures in place, many companies were able to realize […]

In the last few years, after having audited numerous service providers/ business or licensing partners/ distributors etc., I realized having developed fascination towards this off-shoot of Pharmacovigilance, that is #PhVQA. Thanks to the GVP modules as well as PSMF pre-requisites, coupled with the requirements for MAH to maintain a 2-5 yearly audit schedule, making it […]

Common questions asked by the Pharmacovigilance Inspector, with regards to Pharmacovigilance vendors

Health Canada (HC) is one of those authorities which has set its expectations with regards to GVP inspections clearly and there is a lot of information available on the HC website to substantiate this. Did you know that HC has a dedicated website for GVP inspections, where one can find information on the Pharma entities […]