22 March 2020

FDA Guidance on AE Reporting during a Pandemic

ATTENTION !!
This post was updated on 20-May-2020 to reflect the changes brought by the revised version of the Guidance Document published by the FDA on 11-May-2020. Resulting revisions are tracked (in Red & Highlighted in Yellow).



The U.S. FDA has published a new Guidance Document on 19-Mar-2020, which is entitled : “Postmarketing Adverse Event Reporting for Medical Products and Dietary Supplements During a Pandemic”.

This is not exactly a new document and in reality, this represents a minor revision of the 2012 guidance on “Postmarketing Adverse Event Reporting for Medical Products and Dietary Supplements During an Influenza Pandemic". The update clarifies that the guidance is applicable to any pandemic, including the current COVID-19 pandemic and not just an influenza pandemic.




Possible Impact of a Pandemic

This guidance provides recommendations to address the anticipated workforce shortage that can result from high absenteeism in the Industry and at the FDA during a pandemic, while the volume of case reports may increase due to the widespread use of medical products to face the pandemic.

Although compliance should be maintained to the maximum extent possible, the guidance brings flexibility to prioritize AE reporting responsibilities when resources become insufficient, which should be considered in Business Continuity arrangements.


Business Continuity and Prioritization

Companies that are unable to fulfill normal adverse event reporting requirements during a pandemic should maintain documentation of the declaration of a pandemic (e.g. by the WHO), and of the factors that are preventing the firm to comply with its reporting requirements, i.e. high absenteeism and/or increase in caseload. The FDA should be notified as soon as possible.

In these circumstances, the FDA will accept that certain safety reports are not submitted within the regulatory timeframes provided that delayed reports are submitted within 6 months of the restoration of AE reporting capabilities to their pre-pandemic state. However, a different timeframe may be set by the FDA (see Section D of the Guidance Document).


FDA defines Priorities for Safety Reports

The guidance includes a table that defines which reports companies should submit and which may be stored if necessary. Here is a summary for approved drug and biological products (NDA, ANDA, or BLA):
  • FDA will communicate with firms if there are products and issues that present special concerns, in which case full compliance with expedited and periodic reporting requirements is expected.
  • For all other products, Periodic Safety Reporting may be suspended.
  • Regarding Expedited Safety Reporting (i.e. 15-day Alert reports), while other reports may be stored if necessary, the following reports should be submitted within required timeframes:
1-
Reports associated to products approved for an indication related to the pathogen causing the pandemic, including pandemic vaccines targeting the pathogen or the disease, whether or not this use is included in the approved labeling
2-
Reports associated to products approved within prior three years
3-
For Biologics only All Products, Reports with a Fatal Outcome



Besides these rules for approved drug and biological products, the table provides guidance for other types of products, including Prescription drug products marketed without an approved NDA (including compounded or repackaged products), Medical Devices, Blood Products, Human Cells, Tissue, and Cellular and Tissue-Based Products (HCT/P), etc.


       Link to FDA Guidance Page




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Thierry Hamard is a Pharmacist with more than 15 years of Global Pharmacovigilance Auditing experience and over 200 PV Audits performed since his company PV Focus was established in 2004.


Thierry is also Chief Editor of Safety Observer, a provider of Regulatory Intelligence services for Pharmacovigilance since 2005.

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