FDA Audit Best Practices – Do’s and Don’ts

The FDA has been increasing its surveillance of regulated industries.  While it is a given that companies must meet their regulatory requirements, how company staff handle an audit and interact with FDA inspectors, can mean the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful FDA audit.  The cost of an ineffective interaction can be staggering. 

This webinar will begin by discussing and emphasizing the importance of truthfulness to the process – truthfulness in performing the job on a daily basis, truthfulness in completing the regulatory documentation that is so much a part of our regulatory lives, and finally in the context of this webinar, truthfulness when interacting with FDA inspectors.

A key component of this webinar is the discussion of the tricks and techniques that inspectors use to elicit information.  How you react and respond when they occur could impact your results.

Other key communications skills will be presented in the context of the inspection and interpersonal exchanges between inspectors and company associates being questioned.

We will complete the webinar by discussing how to handle, in the moment, adverse findings as they are identified by the inspector so as to not compound the issues and severity of the findings.

Why You Should Attend:
If you are in any regulated business – pharmaceuticals, medical devices, you will experience an inspection by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, “Registered domestic drug establishments shall be inspected by the FDA at least once every two years.” Depending upon the inspection type and the circumstance, inspections may occur more frequently.

The outcome of those inspections can have a grave significant impact upon your business even if you and your colleagues have done everything “right.”  How you and others behave and interact with FDA inspectors can have an impact on the results reported.  Interacting with inspectors is not an natural behavior, effective techniques must be learned and mastered if those inspections are to have positive outcomes.

Areas Covered in the Session :

• Importance of truthfulness
• Importance of knowledgeability and confidence
• FDA Tricks to elicit information
• Arguing and challenging
• Behavior during the inspection
• Importance and role of documentation
• Effective communication skills
• Being deceptive
• Opinion versus fact
• Phrases never to say
• Handling adverse findings during the inspection

Who Should Attend:

• Quality Assurance Departments
• Quality Control Departments
• Research and Development Departments
• Regulatory Affairs Departments
• Manufacturing Departments
• Engineering Departments
• Operations Departments
• Production Departments
• Validation Departments
• Marketing Departments
• Documentation Departments
• Essentially everyone in the organization that has interaction with the FDA during onsite audits