Throughout the course of 2020, people across the medicines supply chain have had to deal with unexpected challenges in maintaining an efficient, resilient supply chain for patients.

However for Smartway, this was just the beginning. It is in our DNA to go beyond what is expected and position ourselves at the forefront of regulatory compliance and ever-evolving best practice.

Over four days, from the 30th November 2020, we were proud to attend the MHRA Good Manufacturing and Good Distribution Practice Symposium. This was the first year the event has been virtual, yet it still captured the MHRA’s significant work, how organisations can improve their overall compliance, and what constitutes best practice in light of new legislation and geopolitics.

Taking our responsibilities seriously

For us, regulatory compliance is about more than meeting our obligations. The quality of our processes, people and controls have a very real impact on partners, practitioners and, in turn, patients – wherever they are in the world.

We see best practice as our responsibility to those who trust us. We also recognise that we must lead by example, demonstrating the care, commitment and compliance we expect from our supply chain partners. Together, we can understand risk, mitigate it, and build resilient businesses that are unaffected by it.

This year’s MHRA Good Manufacturing and Good Distribution Practice Symposium was a fully online event, bringing together leaders from across the supply chain as well as senior inspectors, specialists and managers from the MHRA.

From Smartway, the event was attended by:

  • Nicole Lyons, Deputy Responsible Person
  • Miral Patel, Deputy Responsible Person
  • Dhruv Patel, Commercial Director
  • Hitu Patel, Chairman
  • Josh Cocklin, Chief Executive

Crucially, this reflected stakeholders from across our senior leadership team – the key people who are involved in our regulatory compliance strategy and the systems that underpin our operational excellence.

For Nicole Lyons, our Deputy Responsible Person, the event was an opportunity to cement our commitment to best practice and continued improvement.

“In 2020, we’ve significantly invested in new technology to make our regulatory processes more efficient and effective. We’re continuously reviewing our compliance, innovating and using automation where we can to accelerate processes whilst removing the risk of manual error. The MHRA symposium is always a fantastic opportunity to gain insight of the diverse challenges faced within our industry, and will undoubtedly affect how we think about our processes and procedures to ensure we remain at the forefront of compliance going into 2021 and beyond.”

Nicole Lyons, Deputy Responsible Person

Safeguarding patients through compliance

Finally, the symposium was a chance to update our knowledge as we continue to refine and improve every aspect of our compliance.

In 2020, we had three MHRA inspections – a way to measure and assess the quality of our regulatory compliance systems. We are pleased with the outcomes. Now, we are continuing to plan ahead, leveraging new technology to guarantee the high standards that our customers and partners have come to expect.