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About

Introduction to Pharmacovigilance & Safety Writing Specialist provides a comprehensive foundation in drug safety, pharmacovigilance processes, and regulatory medical writing. The course is designed to help learners understand the core principles of adverse event reporting, safety data management, pharmacovigilance operations, and the preparation of essential safety documents used throughout the pharmaceutical product lifecycle.
This Introduction to Pharmacovigilance & Safety Writing Specialist Path Course & Certification covers the fundamentals of pharmacovigilance, adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting, Individual Case Safety Reports (ICSRs), aggregate safety reporting, signal detection, risk management, and global regulatory requirements. Learners will also gain practical knowledge of safety writing, including the preparation of narratives, DSURs, PSUR/PBRERs, Risk Management Plans (RMPs), Investigator Brochures, Clinical Study Reports, and other regulatory safety documents. Upon successful completion, participants receive a certification demonstrating their knowledge of pharmacovigilance principles and safety writing practices.

Who Should Enrol?

  • Aspiring Pharmacovigilance Professionals
  • Drug Safety Associates and Executives
  • Medical Writers and Safety Writers
  • Regulatory Affairs Professionals
  • Clinical Research Associates (CRAs) and Clinical Research Coordinators
  • Quality Assurance and Compliance Professionals
  • Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, and CRO Employees
  • Pharmacy, Life Science, Nursing, and Medical Graduates
  • Students Seeking Careers in Pharmacovigilance and Medical Writing
  • Anyone interested in learning drug safety, pharmacovigilance, and regulatory safety writing

What you will learn

Understand the fundamentals of pharmacovigilance, including its purpose, scope, and role in ensuring patient safety and drug effectiveness.

Learn key global pharmacovigilance regulations, terminology, and the overall lifecycle of safety monitoring activities.

Gain knowledge of core PV processes such as individual case safety reports (ICSRs), signal detection, risk management, and pharmacovigilance planning.

Develop an understanding of modern PV practices, including the use of technology and AI, along with career pathways in the pharmacovigilance field.

Course Syllabus

  1. PV from the writer's seat
  2. Ten outputs of a safety writer
  3. Meet Maya — and three others
  4. The path in one picture
  5. What success looks like
  6. Where this path fits in Whitehall
  7. A first taste of the craft
  8. Three commitments to ask of yourself

  1. Why narratives exist
  2. The CIOMS shape
  3. Causality in two views
  4. Seriousness and expectedness
  5. The five rewrite triggers
  6. Five-pass reviewer checklist
  7. Special cases
  8. From draft to inspection-ready

  1. What a signal is
  2. The signal detection lifecycle
  3. Writing the signal validation memo
  4. Writing the signal evaluation report
  5. Literature monitoring
  6. Signal documentation in PSURs
  7. Risk assessment, briefly
  8. How signal writers grow

  1. The aggregate report family
  2. The PBRER skeleton
  3. Ownership and roles on a PSUR
  4. Inside Section 16
  5. DSURs — what changes
  6. The aggregate-reporting calendar
  7. Quality, consistency and inspection-readiness
  8. How aggregate writers grow

  1. The RMP, briefly
  2. The safety specification
  3. The PV plan and risk minimisation
  4. From RMP to label
  5. Deviation reports
  6. CAPAs
  7. SOPs and the quality writing surround
  8. How quality writers grow

  1. AI in pharmacovigilance in 2026
  2. Working with AI as a writer
  3. The senior writer's arc
  4. The Whitehall ecosystem map
  5. The 30 / 90 / 365-day plan
  6. What success looks like
  7. Why this work matters
  8. Closing reflection
  9. Course complete

Course Benefits

Benefits cpd_points icon
CPD Points

Gain Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Points, accredited by The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom. These can be used to count towards the distance learning element of any scheme that comes under the umbrella of The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges or any other scheme for which there is mutual recognition.

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Certification

Receive a personal certificate to show your subject knowledge on course completion.

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Affordable

You get excellent value through our cost-effective prices. We can also offer you group discounts on larger purchases.

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Flexibility

The course saves you time through the convenience of online availability. This lets you complete the interactive course at your own comfort.

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Keep Up to Date

You will stay up to date with any changes to EMA GVP, MHRA pharmacovigilance guidance, FDA post-marketing rules, the ICH E2 safety guidelines, CIOMS narrative conventions and EU Risk Management Plan requirements, as this course is continuously monitored, reviewed and refreshed.

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Learn from Industry Experts

The course content has been developed by Whitehall medical-writing faculty drawing on EU, UK and US regulator practice, CIOMS narrative conventions and EMWA / AMWA professional standards, so career-changers and new entrants build inspection-ready foundations they can apply on the job from day one.


Our Certified Customers

novartis
NHS
takeda
roche
dhl

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