Practical Considerations for the Implementation and Monitoring of Risk Minimisation Measures for High-Risk Teratogenic Medicines

There is considerable societal interest in making medicines more affordable. A critical factor often inadequately considered early in the process of adding drugs to a company’s product portfolio is that some products may require additional monitoring and complex, demanding and expensive additional risk minimisation measures (aRMMs). These aRMMs may have a sizeable impact on a company’s commitment to that medicinal product throughout the product’s entire life cycle. The teratogenic phthalimides were selected as an example of medicines that are recently being genericised and require a substantial commitment in terms of additional monitoring and aRMMs, most notably in the form of pregnancy prevention programmes (PPPs) with controlled distribution systems (CDSs). Implementing PPPs with CDSs is complex and demanding and encompasses all routine activities, aRMMs, local/regional Health Authority (HA) requirements, and commercialisation strategies. Considerations have been summarised that can support decision-making during due diligence processes, implementation and monitoring. Proactive, effective pharmacovigilance requires innovative, sustainable and flexible solutions to maintain high standards across the board. In particular, generic marketing authorisation holders operate with limited resources and may benefit appreciably from the following proposed suggestions and solutions such as early planning and preparation, knowledge-sharing, utilisation of new technologies and implementation of measures beyond HA-mandated requirements. Graphical Abstract