Last Monday the Health Subcommittee of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Joe Pitts (R-PA16), published their own discussion draft of a national pharmaceutical track & trace bill and then on Thursday they held a hearing to discuss elements of it with a select group of witnesses. The draft was sponsored by Representatives Robert Latta (R-OH5) and Jim Matheson (D-UT4). The previous Friday the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee published a different discussion draft on the same topic, but held no hearing (see “The New Pharma Track & Trace Discussion Draft In The Senate”). In my essay about the Senate version I noted that Continue reading The House Hearing on ‘Securing Our Nation’s Prescription Drug Supply Chain’
Monthly Archives: April 2013
California’s Draft Regulation on Inspections
Tomorrow I’m going to write about last week’s hearing on “Securing Our Nation’s Prescription Drug Supply Chain” held by the U.S. House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Committee. In the meantime, in the last few weeks I have written about the new draft regulation on certifications in California e-pedigrees and California’s Draft Regulation on Inference. In the same document—distributed by Joshua Room, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, California Department of Justice assigned to the California Board of Pharmacy, at the March 14, 2013 Enforcement Committee meeting (and converted to MS Word document form by me)—on page 6, you will find the short draft regulation on inspections.
The draft regulation on pedigree inspections is so short that I didn’t bother doing a markup with my suggestions. Besides, I’ve written about inspecting drug pedigrees before (see “Inspecting An Electronic Pedigree“). That essay is still valid, even though Continue reading California’s Draft Regulation on Inspections
California’s Draft Inference Regulation
Yesterday I published an essay about the new discussion draft of a Federal track and trace regulation bill from the Senate HELP Committee. It is definitely worth watching closely, but don’t let it take your eye off of the California regulations. Those are real today and will move forward unless Congress and the President complete the enactment of a bill that preempts the California law. That’s a long and uncertain road and the discussion draft released last week is only the first unofficial step.
Last week I wrote about the new draft regulation on certifications in California e-pedigrees. In the same document—distributed by Joshua Room, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, California Department of Justice assigned to the California Board of Pharmacy, at the March 14, 2013 Enforcement Committee meeting (and converted to MS Word document form by me)—on page 3, you will find the draft regulation for the use of inference. This draft regulation is Continue reading California’s Draft Inference Regulation
The New Pharma Track & Trace Discussion Draft In The Senate
The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee released a new discussion draft last Friday of a bill that would preempt all state pharmaceutical ePedigree laws and establish a pathway toward a nationwide track & trace regulation. Take careful note of this one. It could be the one that finally makes it. Let me explain. Continue reading The New Pharma Track & Trace Discussion Draft In The Senate
Draft Regulations On Certifications Within California ePedigrees
During the March 14, 2013 meeting of the Enforcement Committee of the California Board of Pharmacy, Joshua Room, Supervising Deputy Attorney General at California Department of Justice assigned to the California Board of Pharmacy distributed copies of draft text that he is looking for public comments on. The draft is for regulations covering pedigree “certification”, the use of “inference” and “inspection” of electronic pedigrees. Unfortunately the text is Continue reading Draft Regulations On Certifications Within California ePedigrees
The Board of Pharmacy Must Respond To Ideas For Making EPCIS Work
There was a particularly interesting public dialog that occurred during the March 14, 2013 meeting of the Enforcement Committee of the California Board of Pharmacy. I have been waiting for the official video recording of the meeting to be posted by the State of California but something seems to be holding it up. Fortunately, I recorded the audio myself.
UPDATE: Apparently the video has been out there for almost 3 weeks. I was looking for it in the wrong place. Find it here.
The dialog was between Joshua Room, Supervising Deputy Attorney General at California Department of Justice assigned to the California Board of Pharmacy, and Bob Celeste, Director, GS1 Healthcare US. Mr. Celeste had just finished presenting an update to the Committee on the recently published GS1 US Guideline (see “The New GS1 Healthcare US Track & Trace Guidance”) when Mr. Room asked him to remain at the front of the room to serve as a foil for an experiment he wanted to try. Mr. Room had
Continue reading The Board of Pharmacy Must Respond To Ideas For Making EPCIS Work
InBrief: Can ePedigree Be Deferred Until Mid-2016?
It’s well known that the California pedigree law requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to serialize their drugs, 50% by January of 2015 and the remaining 50% by January of 2016. But the law also requires those manufacturers to start drug pedigrees for those drugs by those same dates. The only problem is, no one is required to be able to receive those pedigrees until July of 2016 when distributors and repackagers must have their systems ready, so why can’t we defer the selection of the ePedigree format and data exchange model until about that time at the latest?
Interestingly, Virginia Herold, the Executive Officer of the California State Board of Pharmacy gave some credibility to that idea Continue reading InBrief: Can ePedigree Be Deferred Until Mid-2016?
Q&A With Virginia Herold, Executive Officer, California Board Of Pharmacy
I finally had time to listen to the recording of the original webcast of the interview with Virginia Herold, the Executive Officer of the California Board of Pharmacy that occurred on March 20, 2013. Shabbir Dahod of TraceLink, a supplier of ePedigree solutions and other supply chain products and services, asked a series of very detailed and very interesting questions of Ms. Herold. The information conveyed through the questions and answers are very compelling and anyone interested in meeting the requirements of the law should listen to the whole recording. You can get access to it here on the TraceLink website. Continue reading Q&A With Virginia Herold, Executive Officer, California Board Of Pharmacy
