Pharma staff urged to join security group

Pharmaceutical specialists
are being called on to be part of an international consortium aimed at tightening security.

The Rx-360 group was formed following the adulterated heparin scandal, which claimed hundreds of lives, to create a global, consistent and auditable set of quality standards for pharmaceutical staff and companies.

It suggests sharing supplier audits to allow them to be conducted more efficiently and save firms money.

"We need big industry uptake of this scheme so that it becomes more meaningful," said vice-chair of Rx-360, Lynne Byers of GlaxoSmithKline.

Compiling a database of audits will allow intelligence sharing and make better use of resources, added Martin van Trieste, chair of the group and vice-president of quality at Amgen.

The consortium will have four functions that can be done collectively; adopting standards and best practices, technology development, monitoring and shared supplier audits.

By carrying out these processes on a global and shared scale, Rx-360 says a better level of consistency will be achieved.