In a highly evolving regional pricing environment, Saudi Arabia (KSA) is no exception. The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) has been periodically reviewing its pricing mechanisms and criteria so that the country becomes a regional reference for the prices of pharmaceutical products. What followed is a change in the pricing strategy by SFDA and a shift from price takers to price makers.
Reliance models are review pathways used by Regulators to expedite the patient access to essential pharmaceutical products and to overcome resource constraints and priorities. Recently, several National Competent Authorities (NCA) in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region have implemented the Abridged and Verification reviews. These regulatory procedures allow the approvement of needed innovative and/or life-saving drugs.
As the electronic Common Technical Document (eCTD) has become the standard for submitting Regulatory Information to leading agencies worldwide, its adoption still poses a considerable challenge for those agencies who lack the needed human and/or material resources. How is the situation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and what other dossier formats are accepted there?
An increasing number of countries worldwide have enacted regulations mandating serialization, tracking and tracing of pharmaceutical products down the supply chain during recent years as a response to drug integrity concerns. Are these regulations also required in Saudi Arabia and what about the whole Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region? What to expect if you serve these markets?
Health information that has been posted online by patients can efficiently supplement your post-marketing drug safety data gained from traditional sources. Data harvesting from Social Networking Sites (SNS) has a lot of potential and significant advantages when compared to traditional sources. One of the main benefits is the near real-time monitoring of Adverse Drug Reactions.
Scientists, doctors, and health authorities often use written communication to present their research, opinions, or guidelines to the patients. While the questions they approach may be complex, the language should not. In medical documents, misinterpreted information may endanger the health and life of a patient. Thus, the main goal in medical writing is to convey the message clearly and concisely to avoid misinterpretation.
In the previous two articles, we have shared our experience on various aspects of effective IND/IMPD CMC writing, considering proper planning, assigning a dedicated CMC writing team, and having effective project management. In addition, we discussed technical writing particulars giving some key messages on document preparation. Now, we will discuss other important points. These are safety, data completeness, and geographical regions.
In July 2020 Biomapas started an EU funded project of research and development activities by creating an artificial intelligence (AI) tool for pharmacovigilance services. The main aim of the project – to create a pharmacovigilance system based on artificial intelligence. Biomapas plans to commercialize the prototype of the technology created during the project in the form of a new pharmacovigilance service which will ensure continuous improvement of drug safety.
With the growth of social media network users all over the world, there is no doubt that one of the most widely used channels for promoting is social media. Statistics show that Facebook and Instagram were used actively with more than 3.4 billion people daily by January 2020. Therefore, since medical devices and over-the-counter medicines are being more often promoted by commercials on social media nowadays, there is a greater risk of hidden or misleading advertisements.
It is easy to notice that Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) have become a frequent occurrence in the Pharmaceutical industry, especially during the previous decades. Pharma industry is one of the leading industries in the number of M&A and the size of investments for such transitions. The value for M&A in the pharmaceutical sector was $221 billion in the first half of the year 2015. In 2019, the worth of pharma companies M&A activities have reached $357 billion.