Surveillance department to help CARPHA monitor quality of drugs entering Region

Mar 15, 2019 News

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It is the right of all Caribbean people to have access to healthcare services, including essential quality medicines and pharmaceutical products they can trust. Poor quality and falsified medicines if left unchecked can reverse progress that the Region has made in its fight against diseases.
This notion was amplified as the Caribbean Public Health Agency [CARPHA] moved to introduce its Medicines Quality Control and Surveillance Department [MQCSD], which will be based in Jamaica. The announcement came during a recently concluded Post Market Surveillance [PMS] and the Caribbean Pharmaceutical Policy meeting in Jamaica.
Delivering remarks there was Minister of Health, Dr. Christopher Tufton who said, “We live in a world where medicines are being developed and consumed at an increasingly higher rate; and there are increased findings of substandard and falsified medicines reported to global monitoring systems.” He, moreover, added, “We cannot have that proliferated in the Caribbean. Manufacturers are seizing the opportunity to import and flood markets in countries where medicines are of short supply or where the regulatory systems for medicines are weak. Thanks to CARPHA’s MQCSD and its efforts to implement a proactive, risk-based, planned sampling programme for the post market surveillance of medicines, we are in a position to guard against this.”
He went on to say that “The importance of the CARPHA MQCSD, as the only accredited medicines quality control laboratory in the English-speaking Caribbean, cannot be over stated. It is to the MQCSD that we now look to implement a Post Marketing Surveillance [PMS] strategy, that is, among other things, to provide test results that confirm the good quality of medicines or otherwise identify problems with them; and provide test results that give the opportunity for national medicines regulatory authorities to evaluate and make decisions on the actual quality of products used in country.”
Other speakers at the opening ceremony were Dr. Virginia Asin-Oostburg, Director, Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control, CARPHA; Mrs. Jesse Schutt-Aine, Sub-regional Program Coordinator, Caribbean, PAHO/ WHO; and Dr. Rudolph Cummings, Programme Manager, Health Sector Development, CARICOM Secretariat.
In her welcome and opening remarks, Dr. Virginia Asin-Oostburg, Director, Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control stated, “This is the first meeting CARPHA is hosting with key regional partners of the PMS programme that is organised by CARPHA’s MQCSD… We consider this meeting, a milestone in repositioning what used to be the Drug Testing Laboratory and rebranding the laboratory as the Medicine Quality Control and Surveillance Department that also offers a surveillance programme to our Member States to actively monitor the safety of registered drugs.” According to Asin-Osstburg, PMS is a programme developed by MQCSD that will further shape and form in collaboration with partners and colleagues from Member States.

The CARPHA MQCSD as the only ISO/IEC 17025 accredited medicines quality control laboratory in the English-speaking Caribbean has been viewed has particularly important. The department has embarked on a post market surveillance programme for medicines, which seeks to monitor the quality of selected medicines circulating in the pharmaceutical markets of participating CARPHA Member States. This will ensure that Member States have access to information, which can be utilized to develop evidence-based approaches such as issuing of alerts, implementing risk reduction strategies and overall management of national public health risks.
Given the limited resources and other challenges facing small island developing states such as CARICOM countries, the responsibilities related to regulatory systems are difficult to carry out single-handedly or individually. As such, in collaboration with other partners such as PAHO/WHO, CARPHA MQCSD will function as a critical part of a robust mechanism for regulating medicines in CARICOM.
Mrs. Jesse Schutt-Aine, Sub-regional Program Coordinator, Caribbean, PAHO/WHO noted that “PAHO is happy to be working with CARICOM and CARPHA and Member States on this initiative” since strong regulatory systems are the foundation for strong health systems. “A strong health system is what’s needed for universal health, and universal health is essential for the attainment of the sustainable development goals. PAHO has been working on these issues for many years supporting the development of the Caribbean Pharmaceutical Policy, as well as a roadmap for a regional regulatory platform. More recently, PAHO has been working closely with CARICOM and CARPHA and Member States to advance the Caribbean Regulatory Systems – the regional regulatory system that is managed by CARPHA. Ms. Schutt-Aine acknowledged “CARPHA as a regional public health platform that is transforming its drug testing laboratory into something that can enhance post market surveillance in the Region through risk based sampling of products in Caribbean markets.”
The introduction of the new surveillance programme will allow CARPHA MQCSD laboratory to monitor medicines such as those used for the control of non-communicable diseases and other medicines. This programme is aligned with CARICOM’s strategy of advancing initiatives for health and wellness by ensuring access to safe, reliable medicines thereby improving the quality of life of the Region. The Caribbean region will have access to information to undertake evidence-based approaches to enable warning, risk reduction and management of national public health risks.
At the meeting, Dr. Rudolph Cummings, Programme Manager, Health Sector Development, CARICOM Secretariat said, “The Medicines Quality Control and Surveillance Department needs to be complimented for the tremendous work that it has done to prepare for this meeting and in positioning itself to support the efforts require for a successful regional pharmacovigilance programme.”
Access to healthcare and essential quality medicines and pharmaceutical products is critical for the Caribbean population’s well-being and optimal health. Through dossier evaluation and pre-marketing quality control of generic medicines for the purpose of registration, some countries are ensuring that quality medicines are on the market.
The recent two-day meeting moreover sought to sensitize CARICOM’s Technical Advisory Committee on Pharmaceutical Policy [TECHPHARM] and Caribbean Regulatory Systems [CRS] focal points on MQCSD’s PMS with a view to strengthen regional integration and partnerships for sustainable development of the programme. The meeting was also aimed at reaffirming the role of TECHPHARM in regional PMS and as a Technical Advisory Committee [TAC] to MQCSD.

 

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