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Purpose This study aimed to assess the current regulatory review process of the food and drugs authority (FDA) Ghana by identifying key milestones, target timelines, good review practices and quality decision-making practices and evaluating the overall regulatory performance from 2019 to 2021, as well as the challenges and opportunities for improvement. Methods The FDA Ghana representatives completed the optimising efficiencies in regulatory agencies (OpERA) questionnaire, including data identifying the milestones and overall approval times for all products registered by the FDA Ghana from 2019 to 2021. Results Of the new active substances approved from 2019 to 2021, 91% were biologicals processed by full or abridged reviews pathways. Timelines for these reviews were within authority targets but were longer compared with generics. Of generics approved from 2019 to 2021, 97% were pharmaceuticals processed by the full review pathway, with timelines within authority targets and shorter compared with new active substances. Regardless of the review model used, approval times for new active substances increased from 84 to 355 calendar days 2019–2021 due to the impact of the pandemic. Guidelines, standard operating procedures and review templates were in place and the majority of indicators for good review practices were implemented. Several quality decision-making practices were implemented, although currently there is not a systematic structured approach. Conclusion The FDA Ghana monitors regulatory performance and currently meets its target timelines. To achieve World Health Organization Maturity Level 4 status, an electronic tracking system, benefit-risk assessment framework and template and the publication of assessment reports are recommended. more...

There is a critical skills gap on the African continent in regulatory sciences, and an acknowledged need to develop a long-term strategy for training and professional development of African regulatory personnel. Capacity building programs for African regulators should link education, training and research with career development in an approach that combines an academic base and experiential learning aligned within a competency framework. A regulatory ecosystem that engages with a broad range of stakeholders will mean that expertise in the ever-expanding field of regulatory science filters into teaching and research in a symbiotic way. In this way capacity development interventions will be a collaborative approach between the learning context (academic and training institutions) and the performance context (regulatory agencies and industry), which will ultimately best serve the patients. Monitoring and evaluation of capacity development interventions will be essential to show value of investments and ultimately guide continued funding and sustainability. This paper reviews the skills and human capacity gaps, reports on regulatory assessment pathways used in Ghana, South Africa and Zimbabwe and outlines a staged tactical approach for Africa that builds on previous efforts to strengthen African regulatory ecosystems. more...

Despite didactic training on adverse events following immunization (AEFI) in Ghana, the reporting ratio of AEFI was 1.56 per 100,000 surviving infants in 2015, below the minimum reporting ratio of 10. We aimed to estimate the proportion of health care workers (HCWs) reporting AEFI and to identify barriers to reporting. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of HCWs in four regions in Ghana. A simple random sample of 176 health facilities was selected and up to two HCWs were randomly selected per facility. We used the Rao-Scott Chi-squared test to compare factors associated with reporting of AEFI in the last year. We used an open-ended question to identify reasons for low reporting. One supervisor from each facility, responsible for overall reporting and management of AEFI, was also interviewed. A total of 306 HCWs from 169 facilities were interviewed. Of these, 176 (57.5%) reported they had ever encountered an AEFI. Of the 120 who had encountered an AEFI in the last year, 66 (55.0%) indicated they had reported the AEFI, and 38 (31.7%) completed a reporting form. HCWs (n = 120) reported multiple barriers to reporting of AEFI; the most common barriers were fear of personal consequences (44.1%), lack of knowledge or training (25.2%), and not believing an AEFI was serious enough to report (22.2%). Discussion of AEFI during the last supervisory visit was significantly associated with reporting in the past year (OR 7.39; p .001). Of 172 supervisors interviewed, 65 (37.8%) mentioned their facilties had ever encountered an AEFI; over 90% of facilities had reporting forms. We identified low reporting of AEFI and multiple barriers to reporting among HCWs in the four selected regions of Ghana. Discussing AEFI during supervisory visits with HCWs might improve reporting. Additionally, strategies to address fear of personal consequences as a barrier to reporting of AEFI are needed. more...

WHO convened an Advisory Group (AG) to consider the feasibility, potential value, and limitations of establishing a closely-monitored challenge model of experimental severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in healthy adult volunteers. The AG included experts in design, establishment, and performance of challenges. This report summarizes issues that render a COVID-19 model daunting to establish (the potential of SARS-CoV-2 to cause severe/fatal illness, its high transmissibility, and lack of a “rescue treatment” to prevent progression from mild/moderate to severe clinical illness) and it proffers prudent strategies for stepwise model development, challenge virus selection, guidelines for manufacturing challenge doses, and ways to contain SARS-CoV-2 and prevent transmission to household/community contacts. A COVID-19 model could demonstrate protection against virus shedding and/or illness induced by prior SARS-CoV-2 challenge or vaccination. A limitation of the model is that vaccine efficacy in experimentally challenged healthy young adults cannot per se be extrapolated to predict efficacy in elderly/high-risk adults. more...

Requiring regional or in-country confirmatory clinical trials before approval of drugs already approved elsewhere delays access to medicines in low- and middle-income countries and raises drug costs. Here, we discuss the scientific and technological advances that may reduce the need for in-country or in-region clinical trials for drugs approved in other countries and limitations of these advances that could necessitate in-region clinical studies. more...

Recent efforts to introduce direct patient reporting into pharmacovigilance systems have proved that patient reports contribute significantly to medicine safety, but there is a paucity of information relating to patients' perspectives regarding adverse drug reaction reporting in developing countries.The objective of this study was to explore patients' knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and opinions on spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting in Ghana.A cross-sectional study using questionnaires administered through face-to-face interviews was carried out from 25 August, 2016 to 20 September, 2016 with 442 patients aged 18 years and above selected by convenience sampling from two community pharmacies in urban and rural Ghana. Reasons and opinions on patients' reporting on adverse drug reactions were surveyed using a 5-point Likert scale. The Pearson chi-square test was used to determine associations between background variables and responses on knowledge of adverse drug reaction reporting.Responses from 434 patients (86.7%) were included in the analysis. Among those interviewed, there was a high level of awareness regarding the existence of the National Pharmacovigilance Centre (81.6%). Approximately half of the respondents (49.5%) were aware that patients were able to report adverse drug reactions associated with medicinal products directly to the National Pharmacovigilance Centre. Of the respondents, 46.3% stated that they had an adverse drug reaction to their medicines in the past; of these, 53.2% reported to healthcare professionals and 36.9% failed to report because they stopped their medication. The three main reasons for patients' reporting were desire for extra information (92.4%), desire to share experiences with other people (91.7%) and expectation for the National Pharmacovigilance Centre to inform others about the possible adverse drug reactions (88.0%). Patients' opinions were to contribute to research/knowledge (96.5%) and improvements in drug safety (96.5%). Patients' behaviour towards adverse drug reaction reporting was affected by the likely consequences of reporting, influence of others and the ease of reporting.Patients have a positive attitude and good knowledge on adverse drug reaction reporting to the National Pharmacovigilance Centre and report because they expect extra information and to contribute to drug safety. Patients' positive attitude towards adverse drug reaction reporting could be sustained by hosting periodic public awareness campaigns addressing the importance of adverse drug reaction reporting and by providing timely feedback to patients on regulatory decisions taken as a result of the reports that they submitted. more...

Dear Healthcare Professional (DHP) letter is a risk minimization tool used to inform health workers about new and emerging safety information during the marketing period of medicinal products. DHP letters in some cases may not be effective because targeted audience may not be aware of these letters or even understand them. The objectives of this study were to assess the effectiveness and relevance of DHP letters as effective risk minimization tool and to seek opinion of health workers about the most effective way of communicating safety information. A descriptive correlational study of 913 health workers selected by convenient sampling through face-to-face interviews from Apr. to June, 2014 was conducted, with a response rate of 83.15%. The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis and Pearson-chi square test (χ2) with STATA version 13. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered significant during the analysis. Of the 913 respondents only 350 (38.34%) were aware of at least one of the letters distributed in 2013 and 314 (89.71%) out of these admitted that these letters have influenced their way of prescribing, dispensing and administering the medicines involved. One hundred and ninety-two (54.82%) of the respondents rated the level of understanding of the language used as good and there was no significant difference in the health workers rating of the language used in the letters (p=0.40). Health workers suggested electronic methods such as short messaging service to their mobile phones 56.81% (438), e-mail 91 (85.85%) and posting the letters on the Food and Drugs Authority’s website 26.85% (207). The results suggest that DHP letters issued by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) are effective in changing behavior of those who receive them but they are received late or not at all. The FDA should therefore explore other means of communicating safety information such as electronic means as suggested by the health workers. Key words: Ghana, dear healthcare professional letter, risk minimization, effectiveness. more...