Third-Party Risk Management & Due Diligence

Life science companies engage with various third parties in order fulfill day-to-day operations. As such, they are open to an array of risks which can violate global compliance requirements such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the UK Bribery Act, Brazil’s Clean Companies Act and France’s Sapan II. 

These risks come directly from actions of third parties for which they are liable.  In fact, the majority of bribery and corruption related investigations and subsequent settlements between life science companies and the Department of Justice (DoJ) and other global regulatory bodies are due to the action of third parties. The financial and reputational penalties can be significant.   

Companies need to know the background and performance of each of the third parties with which they conduct business. From wholesalers and distributors to CROs and HCPs, companies must not only do the traditional front-end, pre-contracting due diligence, but must also conduct continuous monitoring to identify any non-compliant or corrupt behavior as it occurs.