Some companies only meet the health authority when they need something.
A registration is late. A price file is stuck. A shortage is coming.
By then it is too late to build credibility. You can only spend what you already have.
In my experience, credibility with an authority is built slowly, openly and on accuracy. A few habits I try to keep:
Know the process. Learn how each department works, then follow it exactly.
Send complete files. A complete, accurate submission respects the reviewer's time.
Use the right channels. Meetings requested formally, with the right people in the room.
Bring evidence, not pressure. Scientific questions go to medical affairs, and they answer with data.
Answer every query fully. On time, and nothing left vague.
Raise problems early. Safety signals and supply risks are reported openly, before they grow.
Share expertise, never favours. When the authority invites input, give it through proper channels, with nothing offered in return.
And be the same every year. The same honest answers in good years and in bad ones.
None of this is clever. That is the point. An authority deals with many companies, and it remembers which ones were accurate when it did not suit them.
“Credibility with an authority is built in the years you need nothing.”
Lesson 9 of 17 in Step 4: Distributors and market access, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.