Biopharmaceutical Drug Safety and Surveillance Staffing Approaches Focus on Cost Savings

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., June 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Drug safety and surveillance departments at biopharmaceutical companies are under the cost-saving magnifying glass. While 80 percent of companies use physicians to review adverse event (AE) reports, more than 50 percent of benchmark partners also staff pharmacists and nurses to review less serious adverse events.

The makeup of respondents' drug safety staff represents an even mix of doctors (19 percent), nurses (19 percent), pharmacists (10 percent) and other professionals (52 percent), such as MPHs, PhDs, allied health, project management and others, according to "Best Practices for Post-Marketing Surveillance of Adverse Events within the U.S.," primary research conducted by Best Practices, LLC.

Download a complimentary white paper at http://www3.best-in-class.com/rr1081.htm that includes selected best practices drawn from extensive primary research with executives at leading companies. The full 37-page report contains more than 110 benchmark metrics and 9 executive narratives from 15 leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

Key insights of this primary research include:

-Nearly 60 percent of the benchmark class outsources low-level work such as data entry within their drug safety groups.

-Seventy percent of the participants said they attempt to make contact one to three times. Telephone and mail-in forms were the main tools for follow-up activities.

"Best Practices for Post-Marketing Surveillance of Adverse Events within the U.S." provides drug safety executives with best practices and cost-saving insights for post-marketing surveillance within the United States, as well as the processes for assessing reports of adverse events, follow-up activities and compliance training.

For more information on this study and other recent primary research studies, contact us at 919.403.0251 or at [email protected].  

BEST PRACTICES, LLC, conducts work based on the simple yet profound principle that organizations can chart a course to superior economic performance by studying the best business practices, operating tactics and winning strategies of world-class companies. Best Practices, LLC has been a leader in pharmaceutical research and consulting for more than 17 years; our clients include 48 out of the top 50 pharmaceutical companies.

SOURCE Best Practices, LLC