Interpretation of Guidelines on Good Pharmacovigilance Practices for European Union

Abstract

Due to the limitations of pre-authorization clinical trials, the safety information obtained from them is relatively limited. Therefore, it is very necessary to carry out pharmacovigilance activities on drugs post-marketing. In order to promote the specific implementation of the new pharmacovigilance regulations, the European medicines agency (EMA) developed the Guideline on Good Pharmacovigilance Practices (GVP), as the new criteria for pharmacovigilance in the European Union (EU). Compared with the previously published, Guidelines on Pharmacovigilance for Medicinal Products for Human Use (2007), the GVP proposed more comprehensive and systematic provisions of pharmacovigilance systems, quality control systems, judgements, pharmacovigilance inspections and audits. In addition, it set more specific and comprehensive requirements on risk management systems, the management and reporting of adverse reactions to medicinal products, periodic safety update reports, post-authorization safety studies, signal management, and so on. Interpreting the basic principles, working mechanisms, key technologies and methods of the GVP provides a useful reference for us to carry out pharmacovigilance (especially regarding safety monitoring of parenterally administered Chinese medicine).