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Pharmacovigilance QMS & Inspection Preparation Training Course

This course is designed to help understand pharmacovigilance quality management systems (QMS) and risk-based audits.

★★★★★ "Excellent, his experience and extensive knowledge are evident. It's been a pleasure to learn from hi... more (14)"

25-26 September 2025 »
from £1299

Need help? Enrol/reserve

Format: Live online
CPD: 12 hours for your records
Certificate of completion

Course overview

Since the introduction of the new pharmacovigilance legislation in the EU, QMS and self-audits have become an increasingly important topic. Companies have been challenged by regulators to implement risk-based audits where continual improvement of processes, systems and compliance to regulations needs to be demonstrated. This is required from the top of the company organisation in all areas of regulatory activity including clinical, pharmacovigilance, sales and marketing, IT and medical services.

This must-attend course will explain principles, approaches and regulatory expectations for the pharmacovigilance QMS and risk-based audits and has been designed to help in both the assessments of risk and the whole CAPA process. The highly participative programme will include a mix of presentations from our expert trainer, reallife case studies and practical workshop sessions which will help consolidate learning.

This course is part of our Vigilance training course collection; for information on the basics of PhV, consider taking a look at our beginner-friendly Pharmacovigilance training course.

Benefits of attending

Explore pharmacovigilance quality management systems (QMS) and risk-based audits
Learn the importance of key performance indicators (KPIs) in your QMS
Ensure compliance with assessments of risk and your CAPA plans
Discuss pharmacovigilance inspections and QMS activities

Who should attend?

QA representatives, EU QPPVs and all working in pharmacovigilance, regulatory, clinical and administrators responsible for the management of the CAPA systems will benefit from this course.

Enrol/reserve

This course will cover:

Day 1
Day 2

The audit basics

The purpose of an audit
Qualifications of the auditor
The audit SOP and design
The difference between audits and inspections
Audit planning and risk assessments

The legislation and audits

The requirements to perform company audits
In-house versus external audits
What needs to be audited
Which departments need auditing for safety?

QMS

QMS design
Quality cycles – expectations and deviations
Quality risk assessments
KPIs
Quality failings and corrections

QMS and the audit report

The audit scope and conduct
The audit report content
The grading of audit reports
Corrective action plans (root cause analysis)
Re-audits

Workshop session

You will be asked to design the QMS for a safety department that has recently been audited. You will need to devise a plan based on any risk elements and audit findings identified and look at designing a QMS approach with KPIs.

Introduction to PV inspections

Background
Purpose – design
Roles and responsibilities of the licence holder
Conduct of regulatory inspections

Risk-based inspections

Defining risk
Routine and for-cause inspections
Triggers for an inspection
Who should attend the inspection?

The pharmacovigilance inspection cycle

Pre-inspection questionnaires
Site visits and telephone audits
Results and CAPAs
Inspection follow-up questionnaires
Follow-up inspections

Workshop session

You will be presented with a series of findings from a regulatory inspection. You will have to look at the findings and work out priorities, devise root cause analyses and provide detailed CAPA plans which will include QMS activities.

Common findings from regulatory inspections

Grades of findings (and how to grade findings)
How to grade findings in the same PV area
Allied findings in other departments
KPIs versus legislation
Variations in major authority inspections

Enrol/reserve

Graeme Ladds
PharSafer Associates Ltd

Graeme Ladds, Director of PharSafer, has over 30 years’ experience working in the pharmaceutical industry. Having started his career at Ashbourne Pharmaceuticals in 1989 as Head of Drug Safety & Medical Information, he went on to become Head of Global Pharmacovigilance at Shire Pharmaceuticals. He then set up his consultancy and specialist CRO company, PharSafer Associates Ltd, where he has been involved in establishing pharmacovigilance in companies, performing audits across Europe and the USA, SOP writing, acting as QP for companies, and helping with regulatory inspections.

More details

NEW higher discounts for multiple bookings - bring your colleagues to make your training budget go further:

30% off the 2nd delegate*
40% off the 3rd delegate*
50% off the 4th delegate*

Please contact us for pricing if you are interested in booking 5 or more delegates

25-26 September 2025

Live online

09:00-16:15 UK (London) (UTC+01)
10:00-17:15 Paris (UTC+02)
04:00-11:15 New York (UTC-04)
Course code 14950

GBP 1,299 1,499
EUR 1,819 2,099
USD 2,087 2,399

Until 21 Aug

2 days live online training
Browser-based, no download usually required
See presenters and interact with fellow attendees
Download documentation and certification of completion
Fair transfer and cancellation policy

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Not ready to book yet?

for 7 days, no obligation

* Early booking discounts may not be combined with other discounts or offers. As such, the discounts for 2nd/3rd/4th delegates are based on the full price; and apply only when booking multiple delegates on the same date.

Reviews of IPI's Pharmacovigilance QMS & Inspection Preparation training course

The webinar is very good. [I particularly liked] real life examples from audits faced and conducted.

Jan 20 2025

Bharati Perumalla India
PV QA Manager, ALPHAMED FORMULATIONS PRIVATE LIMITED

Sep 28 2023

Excellent, his experience and extensive knowledge are evident. It's been a pleasure to learn from him. I really liked the presentation and the speaker. Clear ideas, all the topics covered, and practical exercises to put the theory into practice.

Eva Sanz Castel Spain
GSM QA AUDITOR, Lab Esteve

Jan 23 2023

[The presenter] has huge knowledge and gave real-life examples... the best thing was the practical exercise it will be a great guide to us.

Hind T. Almanea Saudi Arabia
QPPV, PharmaKnowl

Jan 23 2023

Graeme is very skilled professional, who was able to transfer example from real life experience and deliverables in a straightforward and effective way.

Mario Caiano United Kingdom
Pharmacovigilance Auditor, Pharmanovia

Nov 16 2022

Speaker was wonderful

Russia

Nov 19 2020

The speaker was excellent and gave very practical examples of what is looked for in an Audit

Kathleen Dunphy Ireland
Senior Administrator , NorthStar Healthcare

Nov 11 2019

I wanted to reinforce my knowledge and I definitely accomplished this. Graeme Ladds was great as usual. His pharmacovigilance knowledge is extensive, any question was answered confidently and debate was encouraged.

Christopher Harper United Kingdom
Senior Medical Information Manager, Astellas Pharmaceuticals

Nov 11 2019

The course actually exceeded my expectations and gave me an inside view of flaws in my PhV system. Great speaker with a lot of knowledge, good pace and experiences/stories from real life.

Hrvoje Sarec Croatia
Pharmacovigilance Specialist, Xellia d.o.o.

Nov 11 2019

Excellent presentation by a very experienced speaker. The examples provided and the exercises were greatly appreciated.

Anne-Elisabeth Collignon France
Pharmacovigilance Head of PV Quality Assurance, Institut de Recherches Internationales Servier

Nov 11 2019

The speaker was very knowledgeable and easy to approach and I would definitely attend another course that had him as trainer. The practical examples were very useful and the course was interesting, well organised, and had a good balance in terms of content and difficulty.

Claudia Percivalle United Kingdom
Head of Global Regulatory Affairs, Cycle Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Nov 11 2019

The speaker was very very good and I particularly liked the opportunity to exchange experiences and examples.

Evangelia Tsakiraki Netherlands
EU QPPV, Piramal Critical Care B.V.

Nov 22 2018

Very interactive and interesting the speaker has a great knowledge of the subject and respond to all our queries.

Tracy Salamoun Lebanon
Regulatory affairs Associate , Union pharmaceutique d’orient sal

Nov 22 2018

A very well knowledgeable presenter in QA and particularly in PV. The content was rich and touched all areas in great detail. The course is very well balanced and anyone (junior to experienced) in QA could understand and learn from the training.

Netsanet Desta-Evers Switzerland
Clinical Safety Compliance Specialist, Novimmune SA