Learning & Development

The Life-Sciences industry is constantly evolving under the pressure of new expectations. Regulators expect more transparency, consumers expect constant therapeutic advancement, while employees internal to these questions want more in return for the cost of shouldering that burden. It is a melting pot of responsibility.

New questions are being asked of industry leaders who have made it through the other side of the Covid19 pandemic calloused and battle scarred. For the many procedures and contingencies that weathered the test of a global pandemic, there are those in equal measure that did not. Innovation is now a matter of survival more than anything else.

So as these considerations sink in – and the realities posed by new, awkward challenges begin to take shape – organizations are forced to look inward.

“Consumers expect constant therapeutic advancement, while employees internal to these questions want more in return for the cost of shouldering that burden. It is a melting pot of responsibility.”

The Evolution of Compliance Training

Good compliance is foundational to the success of any pharmaceutical, biotechnology or medical device company. It is essential for the sake of anyone with a stake in the industry. Despite the administrative costs that come with all that red tape, compliance serves an essential imperative. It provides us with an ethical ground zero, from which those who dip below it risk everything, and those who aim beyond it have all to gain. The lesson we have learned is that transparency must be demanded, not gestured towards.

With that said, the industry is evolving. Regulators are asking more of compliance teams. The technologies used by regulators to accost bad behaviors are becoming more sophisticated; the internal pressures being placed on executives within the space are mounting. As we adopt new technologies, business models become more exposed. Huge sums of data and the overheads of managing that intelligence create novel blind spots. So, let us discuss where L&D fits within the picture, and what function it might serve to remediate all this growing uncertainty.

“$3 billion. A high price tag for not toeing the line.”

*Biggest pharmaceuticals settlement cost to date, prosecuted under the False Claims Act*

Third Party Risk Management

There is plenty to be said for looking externally when considering how to tackle compliance training. As we know, it is not as simple as brushing through a few perfunctory PowerPoint slides. It must be methodical, and appropriately resourced. You must think about how all these moving parts are expected to communicate with one another. This should not be viewed simply as rented technology, because there is real, subliminal value in the expertise of individuals, with years of industry insight.

Third Party Risk Management (TPRM) simply refers to the task of accounting for – and mitigating – the associated risks that come from hiring and working in partnership with external vendors. It is an integral part of compliance training. Organizations need to ensure repeatable standards are met and maintained across all relationships.

Managing external risk and holding vendors accountable to internal standards of engagement sets a valuable business precedent. Compliance training is not something to roll one’s eyes over. For those looking to better understand the landscape, consider what exploring the consultative realm might unearth. This approach may just reveal all kinds of new options, and help you understand what has critically been missing from your training initiatives.

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