Complaint handling in pharmaceutical companies

Complaints show customer dissatisfaction about the quality of a pharmaceutical product. Despite a regulatory obligation in several countries, a good complaint handling system gives the company an opportunity to improve the quality of their products, being a good tool for the maintenance of Good Manufacturing Practices and a way to establish a committed relationship with their customers. A systematic procedure must be developed and implemented in order to register and investigate each complaint received and not only the Quality Assurance area must be involved. This process must involve other critical areas such as Marketing, Production, Quality Control, Finance, Regulatory and Legal Affairs. Thus the aim of this article is to discuss the main steps of a good complaint handling procedure that can be readily implemented in pharmaceutical companies. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.