Discussions were held on to assess emerging pharmacovigilance requirements in India
Indian Society for Clinical Research (ISCR) recently conducted second national pharmacovigilance symposium in Bengaluru. The symposium saw a number of pharmaceutical and regulatory professionals to discuss current issues, gain greater understanding of existing needs and assess emerging pharmacovigilance requirements in India.
Key stakeholders from the industry, academia, government and the not-for-profit sector and healthcare representing different perspectives deliberated on current requirements, recent advances in regulations, best pharmacovigilance practices and opportunities and challenges in effective management of outsourced pharmacovigilance operations.
Dr J Vijay Venkatraman, Chair, ISCR PV Council, in his opening address, stressed on the need for all stakeholders to work in harmony for the betterment of Indian pharmacovigilance. The inaugural speech was given by Dr Darshan Bhatt, Chief Guest, who is an independent consultant and well known pharmacovigilance professional in the country.
The inauguration was followed by panel discussions that saw pharmacovigilance experts deliberate on ‘Pharmacovigilance in clinical trials’ and Post Marketing: India Perspective; Pharmacovigilance from Bench to Bedside; Recent Advances in Global Pharmacovigilance and Pharmacovigilance Operations: Opportunities and Challenges.
The key takeaway was that pharmacovigilance is an important area associated with the entire lifecycle of a drug but it needed to be more transparent in order to provide updated information to stakeholders. There was a need for more awareness and capacity building and a greater deployment of technology to capture information. India had the expertise and potential to develop a robust pharmacovigilance system for the country.
EP News Bureau – Mumbai