Product Quality and Patient Safety

Uniphar has a comprehensive approach to quality management and regulatory compliance, with a commitment to maintaining high standards across all aspects of its operations.

Uniphar’s Quality Management System provides a digital and validated platform, which facilitates real time monitoring, data integrity, and traceability across its operations. This system is built around core Good Manufacturing Practice (‘GMP’) and Good Distribution Practice (‘GDP’) values, which are critical for ensuring the safety, efficacy, and quality of pharmaceutical and other healthcare products during the product life cycle.

The employment of quality and regulatory subject matter experts (‘SMEs’) in each of the jurisdictions is a key strategy for ensuring compliance with both local laws and global standards. This localised expertise enables Uniphar to navigate and meet the varying requirements in different markets while ensuring that operations adhere to the company’s overarching global quality standards.

The ongoing certification to ISO 9001:2015 and compliance with other relevant regulatory frameworks indicates a proactive approach to maintaining certifications and adapting to any regulatory changes. It also reflects Uniphar’s commitment to sustaining high levels of quality and operational excellence over time.

This structure and focus on quality and compliance, combined with expertise at local and global levels, positions Uniphar to effectively manage risks, meet regulatory requirements and ensure product quality in a complex, highly regulated industry.

Responsible Sourcing Commitment Statement

At Uniphar, we are committed to conducting our business in a responsible, ethical and sustainable manner. We recognize the importance of ethical, environmental, and social considerations in our supply chain and procurement activities.

We are committed to:

  • Ethical Sourcing. We commit to conducting business with honesty, integrity, and transparency.
  • Respect for Human Rights. We are dedicated to upholding human rights and promoting fair labour practices throughout our supply chain.
  • Environmental Sustainability. We recognize our responsibility to minimize the environmental impact of our sourcing activities.
  • Supplier Engagement. We expect our suppliers to share our commitment to responsible sourcing and work with us to meet these standards. We encourage open communication and collaboration to ensure alignment with our values and principles.
  • Regular Review. We commit that our sourcing practices will consistently meet the highest ethical, social, and environmental standards, we are dedicated to regular reviews of our policies and procedures. Through these regular reviews, we aim to stay at the forefront of responsible sourcing, maintaining transparency, and accountability in all aspects of our supply chain.
  • Resourcing for success. We understand that responsible sourcing is not just a statement of intent but a tangible commitment that requires adequate support. We commit to investing in the training, technology, and expertise needed to monitor and improve our supply chain practices continually.

At Uniphar, responsible sourcing is not just a statement; it's an integral part of our corporate culture. We believe that by adhering to these principles and working closely with our suppliers and stakeholders, we can create a positive impact, protect human rights, preserve the environment, and contribute to a sustainable and responsible global supply chain.

Business Ethics

Uniphar is committed to promoting a corporate culture that is based on sound ethical values
and behaviours. In recent years we have created and evolved several key policies aligned to our
core sustainability values. A description of our policies and links to online copies can be found below.

 

Please find links to our relevant policies below -

 

Risk Management

Systemic Risk Management


The Group has a robust risk management framework in place, which provides the structure for managing the principal risks of the business. Details of this risk management framework are set out on pages 57 to 62 of the Annual Report. In addition, the quality and regulatory personnel across the Group perform regular risk assessments and have robust validation processes in place.

Critical Incident Risk Management


Critical incident management requires a coordinated response from multiple teams to ensure that any critical incidents (regardless of severity) are appropriately managed. Our internal reporting lines and focus on open communication across divisions and functions ensure that any critical incident identified is managed appropriately.

Selling Practices & Product Labelling

As a healthcare business involved in the sale, marketing and distribution of pharmaceutical products and medical devices, the Group is subject to wide-ranging regulation on Selling Practices and Product Labelling Regulations, together with industry codes of practice. These set down strict requirements within which the Group must operate. The Group’s quality policies, manuals, extensive standard operating procedures (‘SOPs’) and employee training programmes are designed to ensure the Group meets its obligations and ensures compliance to the fullest extent. The Group’s internal procedures are the core of the Group’s Quality Management System and it is through these robust procedures and ongoing training and development that the Group continues to meet the regulatory standards across all our activities. These procedures document and ensure that the Group is compliant with both local and international standards such as ABPI, IPHA and EFPIA. These Codes emphasise the importance of providing healthcare professionals with accurate, fair, objective information about medicines ensuring that medicines promotion is undertaken in a manner that conforms not only to legal requirements but also to professional standards of ethics and good taste.

The Group is committed to enabling doctors and healthcare professionals to offer their patients the best possible therapeutic care by providing them with complete, accurate and up-to-date information in accordance with the applicable legislation on the promotion of medicinal products.

Legal & Regulatory Requirements

The Group values the importance of regulatory expertise in navigating the ever-changing regulatory environment in which it operates. The Group’s General Counsel heads the legal and compliance function across the Group with external legal and regulatory support sought, where necessary. Our extensive and knowledgeable quality teams specialise in healthcare regulation and the requirements of GDP and other regulatory codes relevant to our business. Appropriate training of our teams on the applicable regulations in the areas in which they work is essential to maintaining the Group’s reputation for quality and regulatory excellence.