Archive for September, 2010

Four years ago the GS1 EPCglobal Software Action Group (SAG) Drug Pedigree Messaging Work Group was wrapping up the standard specification for the GS1 Drug Pedigree Messaging Standard (DPMS, aka GS1 Pedigree Ratified Standard).  That standard was developed through collaboration between U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain members, industry associations, solution providers and GS1.  DPMS 1.0 was ratified by the EPCglobal Board in early January 2007.

DPMS has many benefits.  It results in a self-contained, self-secure electronic document that clearly shows the chain of ownership and/or custody of a given drug package (or a set of packages if they all have the same history).  It works equally well with serialized and non-serialized products.  The security of DMPS documents comes from within the electronic documents themselves rather than just from a security layer wrapped around a given server.  A self-contained, self-secure document model should work well as evidence in a criminal trial.

But even before DPMS was ratified people were raising questions and concerns about it.  Those concerns were Read the rest of this entry »

There was a flurry of discussion last week over a recent Wall Street Journal blog by their “Numbers Guy”, Carl Bialik, regarding the often quoted “estimate” that 10% of drugs worldwide are counterfeit. On September 10, Bialik posted an essay titled, “Dubious Origins for Drugs, and Stats About Them“. The next day he published an article on the topic called “Counterfeit Drug Count Is Tough to Swallow“.  Both essays call into question the origins and the accuracy of the “estimate”.  On September 13, Dr. Adam Fein posted an essay titled, “The Counterfeit Counterfeit Drug Count” on his DrugChannels blog, citing the WSJ essays and providing some additional insight.

Don’t miss the many comments left by readers of Bialik and Fein’s postings.  It’s surprising how Read the rest of this entry »