Regulation is a tricky thing. One’s first instinct may be to roll his or her eyes at the thought of having progress stymied in the name of bureaucracy. And it’s true, there can be a lot of frustration in regulatory compliance. On the other hand, when someone falls gravely ill due to eating bad chicken or not being able to locate the medicine they need, we’re often quick to ask, “How can this sort of thing be allowed to happen?” The simple truth is, we can only make our systems more predictable if we measure, analyze, and regulate. It’s like trying to predict an earthquake. It would be incredible to be able to do so accurately and with enough time to prepare for it. The problem is that kind of predictability doesn’t just fall out of the sky. It would take a myriad of technology, ingenuity, and cooperation on many fronts to all come together. So too does quality metrics in the pharmaceutical industry.