In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of a resilient and transparent supply chain for medical devices and supplies has become glaringly evident. The ability to track and trace the entire journey of these critical items is vital not only for ensuring quality and safety but also for combating counterfeit products and optimizing distribution efficiency. Over the past three years, we have seen rampant counterfeiting of essential medical products like Personal Protective Equipment...
Recently I had the chance to moderate a webcast with Yoel Rivera, founder and CEO of Systech partner Ultimate Solutions, and Joe Lipari, Director of Product Lifecycle Management at Systech.
The Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) is a set of regulations aimed at improving the safety and security of the pharmaceutical supply chain. To date, the industry has focused on the roles that manufacturers and wholesalers play—their data integration requirements and level of readiness for the final phase of interoperability requirements coming with the November 2023 deadline.
We recently conducted a webinar entitled “Coming Down the DSCSA Stretch – Authorized Trading Partners, and What You Need to Know”. I was joined by Georg Jürgens, Manager of Industry Solutions at Spherity and Octavio Rodriguez Perez, Group Product Manager at Systech, for this discussion.
On November 27, 2023, the final phase of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) goes into effect. By that date, businesses at every level of the pharma supply chain—from manufacturers to dispensers—must implement an electronic, interoperable system to identify, trace and verify the prescription drug products they manufacture, package, distribute or sell in the US.
For pharmaceutical industry veterans, November 2023 marks the end of a decade-long journey to “achieve interoperable, electronic tracing of products at the package level to identify and trace certain prescription drugs as they are distributed in the United States.” This milestone will come with little fanfare, but with gigantic impact to the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Many major wholesalers are leading the charge for receiving aggregated data—requiring that manufacturers be able to digitally send pallet identifiers with corresponding digital details of all shipments sent to them. Without this data being aggregated, wholesale staff would have to open each pallet and manually scan each serialized product.
Many New Year’s Resolutions are still in full force! January’s optimism is holding strong with uncluttered calendars, new gym memberships and a sense of renewal and improvement.
Protecting the integrity of a brand is a multifaceted discipline which can be complicated by many pressing issues. Not least is tackling counterfeiting and diversion, as well as meeting high standards of traceability. When Systech was approached by a leading e-nicotine delivery system (ENDS) company, we worked in partnership with them to protect their brand and support business growth.
In an interview for the Vantage Solves Series I explained why November 27, 2023 is critical for the pharmaceutical supply chain. By this date members of the ecosystem must implement an electronic, interoperable system to identify and trace prescription drug products in the US to be compliant with the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA). Additionally, wholesale distributors will require aggregation data to accept product in the coming year.
