Failing an FDA Inspection

Although your company may prepare itselfdata you may have, including any revised procedures,
sufficiently, even going over and above theand may even visit the clinical investigators working
necessary steps in preparing for your FDA auditfor you. They will want to check, and double check
inspection, there is still a chance that your companyall the company information and data registered by
may not pass the test. So what then? So whatyour clinical investigators very closely, and make sure
happens if all your pre-inspection preparation is all forthere is no discrepancy in either report. Failing an
nothing, and you failed your inspection anyway? Welleven more scrutinized inspection can further lead to
it doesn't exactly mean that you'll get thrown in jail,more inspections, which won't get any easier.
or have your company wiped off the books anytimeOne problem you might face in the wake of more
soon, but it may cause serious problems to yourand more failed inspections is the possibility of being
company in the event of an inspection failure. Heredisbarred. This means that the FDA can debar you
are some consequences your company might face iffrom having any activity in the company, or any
you fail your FDA Inspection.company, with a pending or approved NDA or ANDA.
One severe consequence of this is that the news willThis could not only put your individual career on the
very likely become public, which could damage yourshelf for quite a period of time, but can hurt your
reputation as a company. This may result in a loss ofcompany in further tests down the line. In fact,
consumer confidence, your stock prices could verybefore any company with a submitted NDA or ANDA
well go down, and your business partners andtry again in the testing process, they must verify
investors may lose faith in your company. This couldthat no debarred individuals took part in the testing,
result in millions of lost investment, sales, and value inor it will automatically fail.
your company. The best thing your company can doAnother concern of failing too many inspections is
when preparing for an FDA inspection is to hire anthe possibility that your company could be brought
outside pharmaceutical consultancy firm that can helpup on fraud. If your application is being denied time
you fix any mistakes you might have had, and to fixand time again, and you're failing each and every
all the paper work accordingly to prepare for yourinspection, the FDA is within legal right to sue you for
next inspection.an attempt at fraud. They then could invoke the
Another problem with failing an inspection is that it willApplications Integrity Policy, which will closely
only lead to more rigorous inspections down the line.scrutinize every part of the company's dealings
Any discrepancies you may have during the secondincluding its own internal audits, clinical records, and
or third time around will be much more closelywhere the money is going. Your company could then
scrutinized than it would have been during the firstbe forced with a wrong acts, or fraud lawsuit and
inspection. They will also want to verify any newyour company could be closed down permanently.