Pharmaceutical Contract Research Key Terms

Terms you will find as you research pharmaceutical contract research firms

Pharmaceutical contract research firms provide highly specialized consulting services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Consultants have expertise in and can help with regulatory approvals, protocol development as well as drug safety and risk management. The capabilities include providing individual specialists who can help with sudden increases in workload or providing a broad-based team that can assist with end-to-end solutions. As you research different firms it would be wise to learn some of the terms you might encounter.

 

Good laboratory practice

Good laboratory practice (GLP) refers to the system of management controls used by laboratories and research institutes to ensure that during non-clinical studies, the data that is submitted is an accurate reflection of the results obtained can be relied upon when making risk/safety assessments. Pharmaceutical contract research firms can assist clients with setting up protocols to ensure good laboratory practices.
Try: LabCompliance describes how they can assist with GLP.

Good manufacturing practice

Good manufacturing practice (GMP or cGMP) is a term that is recognized all over the world for ensuring that there is quality control over the manufacturing and testing of pharmaceutical products and medical devices. Pharmaceutical contract research firms can ensure that cGMP is used in processes when requested to do so.
Try: Compliance Net defines this term as well.

Pharmacokinetics

Pharmacokinetics is a branch of pharmacology that is focused on determining the results from externally administered substances being administered to a living organism. Some pharmaceutical contract research firms specialize in and can assist with any portion of pharmacokinetics when engaged to do so.
Try: Go to Farlex for another definition of this term.

In vivo

In vivo ("within the living" in Latin) is a term used to describe experimentation using a living organism. Pharmaceutical contract research firms can assist with in vivo experiments when needed.
Try: MedicineNet describes this term.

In vitro

In vitro refers to the performance of an experiment in a controlled environment outside of a living organism. Pharmaceutical contract research firms can conduct in vitro experiments for an organization.
Try: See Biology-Online for a different definition.

Immunoassay

An immunoassay is a biochemical test that uses the reaction of an antibody or antigen to measure the concentration of a substance in a bodily fluid such as serum or urine. Pharmaceutical contract research firms can conduct experiments for client companies using this type of test
Try: Advameg describes this process in more detail.

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