The clinical quality management systems approach developed 20 years ago is not sustainable in the today's industry because we've seen dramatic industry changes in outsourcing, remote monitoring, the use of electronic systems in clinical research, and more. But how do we update our approach for 2022 pharma? This article examines 4 imperatives, including how to accomplish them.
Over the last 10 years, the face of clinical research & development (R&D) and pharmacovigilance (PV) outsourcing has dramatically changed. What was a common industry scenario by 2010 — a full-scale operational pharma company utilizing both international and U.S.-based contract research organizations (CROs) to execute clinical investigator site monitoring and data management — has evolved into a new common scenario in 2019. More than ever, we see what I call a stick-figure pharma company (just the bones) utilizing vendors to execute as many of the required drug development processes as they possibly can. In fact, it’s not surprising to see a company using multiple vendors for the same process, such as regulatory reporting of expedited adverse event cases, investigator site monitoring, multiple types of auditing, and manufacturing. In my consulting work, I meet and interview numerous pharma employees at all levels who struggle when asked to explain how their stick-figure company connects with all the good clinical practice (GCP) and good pharmacovigilance (GVP) practice vendors in play.