Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Pharmacovigilance Strategy, Systems, and Processes of Large, Medium, and Small Companies: An Industry Survey

The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented threat to global business relationships and dynamics. The pharmacovigilance function of pharmaceutical companies is particularly susceptible to changing external pressures because of its highly structured compliance activities. We conducted an industry-wide survey to provide insights on how the pharmacovigilance function responded to the challenges posed by the pandemic. We compared smaller companies and larger companies regarding impact on portfolios and operational activity metrics.

We conducted a survey through the Navitas Life Science annual benchmark of pvnet^TM, a network of large enterprise (LE) companies, and pvconnect^TM, a network of small and medium enterprise (SME) companies, using an online surveying tool during the first quarter of 2021. We collected information on pharmacovigilance activities, including quantitative measures of workload, costs, and key performance indicators, and qualitative data on the effects of the pandemic on product portfolios and operations.

Survey questions were posed to LE (pvnet) network members (n = 12) and SME (pvconnect) network members (n = 18) for the period from January 1 through December 31, 2020. The date of data collection was March 26, 2021. Descriptive median values of parameter metrics included the following: revenue ($28.4 billion for LE companies and $1.6 billion for SME companies), number of products (127 for LE companies and 19 for SME companies), and volume of individual case safety reports (391,000 for LE companies and 13,000 for SME companies). SME companies reported a greater impact on 2 survey categories, remote working and employee well-being, than did LE companies. However, LE companies reported a greater impact than did SME companies on all other survey categories: effect on strategic priorities, shift in product focus, workload changes, changes in sourcing model, effect on case reporting compliance, effect on business continuity, changes in pharmacovigilance technology strategy, impact of interactions with health authorities, effect on resource capacity, and impact on recruitment.

Four major themes emerge from this survey: (1) shift to remote working, (2) recognition of the impact on employee well-being, (3) shift in strategic priorities, and (4) newly recognized aspects of risk mitigation. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a marked effect on every aspect of pharmaceutical companies' pharmacovigilance functions, although the effects appear to be different for LE companies than for SME companies.