Quality Risk Management in the FDA-Regulated Industry

Quality risk management in the FDA-regulated industry is a vital area of regulation for the FDA. Risks to quality may arise from many sources. The FDA has entrusted itself with the responsibility of making sure that the quality of the products it regulates is maintained through a due process.
Quality risk management in the FDA-regulated industry is an extremely broad area that straddles Quality in almost all areas that the FDA regulates. The FDA has regulations for particular areas of Quality, such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, drugs, life sciences and so on. Quality risk management in the FDA-regulated industry is aimed at utilizing core principles in many areas of health and public safety.
Benefits should outweigh the risksThe rationale for Quality risk management in the FDA-regulated industry is that the benefits a product brings for its users, namely patients, should be greater than the risk it brings in its wake. Risk, as we all know, is something like a side effect or a shadow, which accompanies the product just whenever and wherever it is used, and the products itself is unthinkable without the risk. Risk managers and regulators alike acknowledge the fact that risk is not only avoidable; it is not something that can be eliminated fully.
So, how feasible is Quality risk management in the FDA-regulated industry when it is a given that risk is inherent in any product or activity? As mentioned above; the FDA (or for that matter, any other regulatory agency) proceeds on the belief that risks can only be mitigated. This certitude is the cornerstone of formulation of policy concerning Quality risk management in the FDA-regulated industry. So, the FDA formulates best practices and regulatory requirements for containing risk.
Quality risk management as laid out by the FDAThe FDA formulates risk management strategies and best practices that help manufacturers understand the ways of risk mitigation and hazard control, so that the maximum possible safeguards are put in place to ensure risk mitigation. The FDA goads manufacturers to imbibe risk management into their core, suggesting that they make it a part of their culture.
The proper use of the principles of Quality risk management in the FDA-regulated industry is aimed at fostering compliance with regulatory requirements. Quality risk management in the FDA-regulated industry is tied to a few important principles such as Good Manufacturing Practices and Good Laboratory Practices, among many others.

The Q9 Quality risk management guidelineThe primary guidance set out by the FDA for compliance that ensures Quality risk management in the FDA-regulated industry is the Q9 quality risk management guideline. Among the fundamentals required in the quality risk management process of this guideline are:

• Assumption of responsibilities for implementing and ensuring Quality risk management in the FDA-regulated industry by people in an organization who are entrusted with the task of decision making regarding quality
• Initiation of a process for quality risk management

Risk assessment is a major exercise at which the following need to be taken into consideration:
Quality risk managementRisk assessment is also built on a triad of principles as part of Quality risk management in the FDA-regulated industry:
Further, the next steps in Quality risk management in the FDA-regulated industry are:

• Risk control, consisting of issues such as:
  • Ways by which to reduce it
  • Striking a balance between risks, benefits and resources
  • Identification of possible new risks in the process
• Reduction of risk
• Acceptance of risk
• Communicating of the risk in the proper manner and to the right person(s)
• Review of the risk.

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