THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Drug Safety & Pharmacovigilance professionals have long awaited consistency in the manner in which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepts Individual Case Safety Report (ICSR) submissions. For years, the industry has navigated different submission procedures for FDA compared with other regions, as well as differences between Investigational New Drug (IND) reporting and post-marketing pharmacovigilance reporting. The FDA has been working towards harmonization of ICSR submissions and the final guidance is here! FDA will require that both premarket and post-market safety reports be submitted electronically in the ICH E2B(R3) format, the format that is currently the standard in the EU. Let us explore the current FDA practices, the need for updated processes, timelines for implementation, and what pharmacovigilance professionals need to do to prepare for the change.

Pharmacovigilance is one of the most essential functions in the drug development process as it is vital for the continued safety evaluation of a product from the first time it is administered to a person through the post-marketing setting. A Pharmacovigilance program must be set up to detect, assess, understand and prevent adverse effects or other possible drug-related problems, and these activities require extensive documentation and monitoring. The global safety database is the primary tool to support Pharmacovigilance activities as it allows us to review safety cases across an entire investigational program rather than study-by-study. It is the Pharmacovigilance provider’s responsibility to ensure that the database is updated and maintained by inputting individual case safety reports (ICSRs) in a consistent, standardized, and timely manner.

Related, Not Related, Likely, Possibly Related, Unlikely Related, Certain, Definitely, Unassessable, Unknown, Probably Related…if you recognize these terms, then there is a reasonable possibility you are familiar with what the Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance world refers to as the causality assessment.