Enhancing the Efficiency of the Individual Case Safety Report (ICSR) Quality and Compliance through Automation

Abstract

Background: Over the past few years, major inspection findings have been identified in the “management of adverse reactions” that may be due to increasing workload in pharmaceutical organizations impacting the correctness of information in individual case safety reports (ICSRs). Although retrospective quality check (Retro-QC) and late submission analyses are important steps in ensuring ICSR quality, their manual application poses several challenges that can be overcome through automation. Objective: To improve the efficiency of the Retro-QC analysis and late submission analysis using a computer-operated tool called Compliance and Metrics Management (CMM) tool, and to measure the tool’s effectiveness in terms of productivity, time, and cost savings by comparing against the manual process. Methods: Time savings were calculated by measuring the difference in time taken during the manual process versus the automated process. Cost savings were measured in terms of hourly remuneration for the time saved. Productivity was calculated as the difference between the number of cases handled in the manual versus automated process. Thus, the overall efficiency was measured in terms of time and cost savings along with increased productivity. Results: Automation resulted in time savings of 49% and cost savings of 43% for Retro-QC analysis, and the productivity level increased by 67%. For late submission analysis, the CMM tool resulted in time savings of 88% and cost savings of 87%. Conclusion: CMM tool enhanced the efficiency of both Retro-QC and late submission analyses by increasing productivity along with time and cost savings. It also reduced the number of errors, thereby enhancing the accuracy of the process and overall compliance.