I love the MHRA Inspectorate blog. They don’t write often, but when they do, good stuff. Here are some of my thoughts on the post on moving patient safety data from determination as part of the pharmacovigilance efforts to labeling to distribution.
Starting in the Good Pharmacovigilance Practice (GPvP) realm, triggers for updates may be identified by pharmacovigilance staff and the corresponding variations submitted by regulatory affairs staff, who will also receive notification of variation approval. At this stage Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) processes come into play with arrangements for printing the updated leaflets and incorporating these into the supply chain.
MHRA Inspectporate Blog “Passing the baton from GPvP to GMP: Three top tips for protecting patients and staying compliant ” 17 Dec 2019
“Unless otherwise stated, updates to patient information leaflets should be introduced within 3 to 6 months of approval” – this is the critical point stressed in this post. The recommendations given in the blog post are solid.
| Blog Recommendation | Thoughts |
| Check that the end to end process facilitates the timely implementation of updates and that there is seamless transition from written procedures covering GPvP, regulatory affairs and GMP processes. | Labeling is often a separate change control process. Integration and simplification in change management is critical and companies should look seriously at balkanization of systems. |
| Define what is meant by ‘implementation’ of an updated leaflet and make sure this is in advance of regulatory deadlines to prevent the need for batches being re-worked should there be any unexpected delays | Effective dates on changes need to take into account deadlines. Appropriate linkages to ERP and supply chain systems. |
| Ensure the QP has access to up to date information on the correct leaflet version that should be used at batch certification. | Communication, and the use of integrated change management |
I also read this morning Teresa Gorecki’s post “Dedicated, Integrated Quality Assurance Systems Critical to Successful Clinical Trials.” All of her points are highly relevant here.
Investigations of a Dog 