As the drug regulations in Saudi Arabia become more stringent and sophisticated every year, companies planning to introduce new products into the Saudi market should no longer commence with the SFDA requirements without developing a robust regulatory strategy (RegStrat).
The concept of RegStrat is generally known and mastered by big firms; however, many still tend to initiate their regulatory projects based on repeated strategies. Others might even head to the unknown by pivoting their whole new access project around the submission requirement. This type of practice will eventually result in high exposure to compliance and commercial risks.
Experienced management would sense when their regulatory project is lacking an efficient strategy. This is by noting many unexpected regulatory difficulties down the road of implementation. The expected risks of a weak RegStrat may vary from minor issues that cause repetitive additions to timelines and budget to major overlooked issues that might engender years of delay, inability to market, or profitability impact. Let alone abortion of projects with complete loss of investments.
Therefore, developing a solid RegStart for SFDA product registration projects is essential to avoid mentioned complications and align the regulatory activities with the main business strategy. Although breakthrough innovative drugs might enjoy SFDA’s priority and facilitation, it is still axiomatic to establish a reliable RegStrat to utilize invaluable returns such as:
- Compliance assurance (Pre/post-marketing).
- Accurate business decisions
- Confirmed market accessibility
- Clarity on all aspects of regulatory impact
- Minimum project timelines
- Controlled budget
- Avoiding bad investments
At PharmaKnowl, we structured our RegStrat document in a holistic approach to include all affecting factors. It is built specifically for the Saudi market with the flexibility to adopt different types of products. It is centred around the following elements:
- Product Specifications
- Applicable SFDA Regulations
- Regulatory Intelligence
- Company objectives
- The input of internal & external stakeholders
The RegStar document will eventually reflect the outcome of the 360 regulatory analysis on all files, entities, functions, and company activities. This is including the post-marketing phase. Its core should at least incorporate the following:
- Regulatory Compliance
- Risks & resolution methods
- Gap analysis & due diligence
- Regulatory procedure: according to objectives and available data, what is the best procedure, route, and type of application:
- SFDA registration
- GHC central registration
- SFDA priority registration
- SFDA verification and abridged registration
- etc.
- Regulatory Intelligence
- E.g., research similar cases, regulatory environment, SFDA product classification, applicable procedures, prescription status,..etc.
- Pharmacovigilance: Obligations & budget.
- Commercial
- Primary pricing analysis and expected schemes
- Regulatory impact on tenders, reimbursement, and formulary listing.
- Permitted marketing modules
- Revision of supply routes
- Finance
- Regulatory impact on profit margins
- Detailed regulatory budget setting
- Legal
- IP, patent, brand status
- Partners & Agreements
- Operational:
- Primary regulatory plan
- Regulatory project timelines
- A prioritized set of requirements
Out of the regulatory strategy, a regulatory plan with a clear course of action has to be generated and implemented within a regulatory project with defined deliverables, timelines, tasks’ ownership, stakeholders, and implementation methods. Only then does it becomes a day-to-day regulatory operation.
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