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What is Quality Assurance in Pharmaceuticals?

quality assurance for medication

You may have heard the term quality assurance being bounced around the pharmaceutical sector, but it's important to know the integral role that it plays in a life science company. 

Careers in quality assurance focus on creating an effective and safe manufacturing framework before a pharmaceutical product goes into circulation. The main focus of quality assurance is to ensure that the product's manufacturing process adheres to industry standards, and that the chosen process minimises the risk of defects in the final product.

 

Regulations to Follow for Quality Assurance

When you work in a quality assurance, a huge part of your job is to follow the relevant regulatory body guidelines to ensure the production of safe and effective products (such as medication, for example). 

For instance, if you work for a pharmaceutical company in quality assurance, you will be assessing every manufacturing process against the standards of The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, in line with good manufacturing processes (GMP)

 

What Tasks Are Involved in a Quality Assurance Role?

Quality assurance roles are very document-heavy. This is because it's integral for pharmaceutical companies to have their manufacturing processes documented for reference in the case of an emergency or inquisition. The other half of tasks lie in the manufacturing equipment itself and the main responsibility will be to ensure that the equipment manufactures high quality products.

Some examples of tasks within quality assurance in pharmaceuticals include: 

  • Process checking
  • Production record review
  • Stability testing 
  • Shelf-life testing
  • Quality audits and reviews
  • Final release or rejection process
  • To identify strengths and weaknesses of the process with peers in quality control (the next stage of quality checks) and R&D (research and development) roles.

If you have great organisation and planning skills, along with a passion for statistical analysis and transforming concepts into clear and concise documents, then this role would be perfect for you!

 

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

It's important to know the difference between quality control and quality assurance as they're very similar, so we put together a handy blog for you to learn more about the sectors in comparison. If you don't have time to read it, all you need to know is that quality control is a subset of quality assurance. 

Quality assurance happens during the development and manufacture of a product. Then, quality control occurs which will involve assessing the final product.

 

Why is Quality Assurance Important in Pharmaceuticals?

Quality assurance is extremely important for pharmaceutical companies as the QA process helps to ensure that all products are clear of any risks or defects.

The quality of a product is integral for the safety of consumers. With quality assurance, consumers can can rest assured that the final product has gone through well-oiled manufacturing processes that provide efficient, safe and reliable results.

Find Quality Assurance Jobs with HRS

There are hundreds of exciting and innovative job roles available in quality assurance. Some of these include: 

  • Quality Manager / Analyst / Inspector
  • Quality Officer
  • Senior/Specialist Quality Officer

If you have a keen eye for detail, and you love all things to do with order, processes, and logic, a quality assurance role could be the perfect role for you. 

Take a look at our range of quality assurance jobs below, or get in touch with one of our specialist life science recruiters for further guidance.

 

Quality Assurance Jobs                             Contact Us