InBrief: FDA Publishes Final UDI Rule

UDI.1453-125x125_01The FDA has finally published the long-awaited final rule on Unique Device Identification (UDI).  I was in the audience at the UDI Conference this morning when Jay Crowley of the FDA made the announcement.  Sparkling juice was distributed to the entire audience of 400+ attendees shortly after the announcement.  See “FDA finalizes new system to identify medical devices“).

Yesterday Mr. Crowley arrived at the conference opening with a short beard.  George Wright IV suggested that perhaps he wasn’t shaving until the final rule was published.  Sure enough, he arrived this morning with the beard shaved off.  He was due to Continue reading InBrief: FDA Publishes Final UDI Rule

InBrief: California Proposes Breakthrough ePedigree Regulation On Drop Shipments

dropShipmentImportant Notice To Readers of This Essay On November 27, 2013, President Barack Obama signed the Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013 into law. That act has many provisions, but one is to pre-empt all existing and future state serialization and pedigree laws like those that previously existed in California and Florida. Some or all of the information contained in this essay is about some aspect of one or more of those state laws and so that information is now obsolete. It is left here only for historical purposes for those wishing to understand those old laws and the industry’s response to them.Late last Friday the California Board of Pharmacy published a proposed regulation for pharmaceutical drop shipments under their ePedigree law that is scheduled to go into effect in 2015 through 2017.  See the text of the proposed regulation for “Electronic Pedigree Requirements for Drop Shipments” here, the notice of its proposed action here, and their “Initial Statement of Reasons” here.  The Board is now seeking public comments on the proposed text through October 28, 2013.

The Board had asked for public input into the operation of drop shipments in the past to assist it with drawing up the regulation, which was mandated by Continue reading InBrief: California Proposes Breakthrough ePedigree Regulation On Drop Shipments

What The UDI Date Format Says About FDA’s Direction

Jay CrowleyThe U.S. FDA is poised to publish their final Unique Device Identification (UDI) rule any day now.  The publication was due earlier in the summer but has apparently been held up in the review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) without any kind of accurate timeline.  The organizers of this year’s UDI Conference are hoping the FDA will be able to announce its publication at their event this Thursday and Friday in Baltimore.  I understand that not everyone is looking forward to its publication, but some are kind of tired of waiting for it.  I’ll bet Jay Crowley and his team Continue reading What The UDI Date Format Says About FDA’s Direction

FDA Chooses DUNS For Unique Facility Identifier

The DUNS NumberLast week the FDA published draft, non-binding guidance for their recommended unique facility identifier (UFI) for use in registering foreign and domestic drug  establishments.  Last year, Congress passed the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA) to address safety concerns induced by inspection gaps of facilities outside the United States and other issues (see “The Supply Chain Provisions Of The FDA Safety & Innovation Act”).  In that law, Congress required the FDA to come up with some way of uniquely identifying all foreign and domestic facilities that are involved in the manufacture and importation of drugs.  This new guidance is the response. Continue reading FDA Chooses DUNS For Unique Facility Identifier

Working With CMOs Under California ePedigree

CMO ZoomImportant Notice To Readers of This Essay On November 27, 2013, President Barack Obama signed the Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013 into law. That act has many provisions, but one is to pre-empt all existing and future state serialization and pedigree laws like those that previously existed in California and Florida. Some or all of the information contained in this essay is about some aspect of one or more of those state laws and so that information is now obsolete. It is left here only for historical purposes for those wishing to understand those old laws and the industry’s response to them.So far in RxTrace I have explored the possible implications of the California pedigree law on drug repackagers, 3PLs, VMI relationships and, of course wholesale distributors.  Now let’s take a closer look at the murky world of the contract manufacturing organization (CMO).  I call this world “murky” only because you have to look very carefully at the relationship between a CMO and the contracting manufacturer to fully understand how the pedigree law might be applied.  And even then you are going to have to check with the California Board of Pharmacy because the law is so confusing in this area. Continue reading Working With CMOs Under California ePedigree

3PL Operation Under California ePedigree

Distribution_centre
Photo from Wikipedia

Important Notice To Readers of This Essay On November 27, 2013, President Barack Obama signed the Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013 into law. That act has many provisions, but one is to pre-empt all existing and future state serialization and pedigree laws like those that previously existed in California and Florida. Some or all of the information contained in this essay is about some aspect of one or more of those state laws and so that information is now obsolete. It is left here only for historical purposes for those wishing to understand those old laws and the industry’s response to them.Another one of the many types of businesses that will need to make changes to their operations in California once the pharmaceutical ePedigree law goes into effect is the third party logistics provider (3PL) business.  There are a number of important differences between wholesale distributors and 3PLs, and because there seem to be confusion over the wording of the California law and recent comments made by California Board of Pharmacy officials regarding 3PLs (at least I’m confused), companies should be careful about their implementations.   I do not have the answers and this is not legal advice, so please check with the Board and your lawyer to confirm anything you read here, but I will tell you my current thinking on the subject. Continue reading 3PL Operation Under California ePedigree

InBrief: ‘The Smallest Package Or Immediate Container’ In California

Drawing from the GS1 Healthcare GTIN Allocation Rules document showing how to assign GTINs in multi-pack scenarios. Click image to enlarge.
Drawing from the GS1 Healthcare GTIN Allocation Rules document showing how to assign GTINs in multi-pack scenarios. Click image to enlarge.

Important Notice To Readers of This Essay On November 27, 2013, President Barack Obama signed the Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013 into law. That act has many provisions, but one is to pre-empt all existing and future state serialization and pedigree laws like those that previously existed in California and Florida. Some or all of the information contained in this essay is about some aspect of one or more of those state laws and so that information is now obsolete. It is left here only for historical purposes for those wishing to understand those old laws and the industry’s response to them.The California pedigree law requires manufacturers to serialize the smallest package of drugs that will be bought by a dispenser.  For some manufacturers targeting the U.S. market, that may require serialization and e-pedigree at a lower unit of measure than they might have thought.  For products that manufacturers package into multi-packs and sell to wholesalers packaged only that way, you might assume that your “smallest package or immediate container” is the multi-pack.  Think again.

Continue reading InBrief: ‘The Smallest Package Or Immediate Container’ In California

Vendor Managed Inventory Under California ePedigree

At the counterImportant Notice To Readers of This Essay On November 27, 2013, President Barack Obama signed the Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013 into law. That act has many provisions, but one is to pre-empt all existing and future state serialization and pedigree laws like those that previously existed in California and Florida. Some or all of the information contained in this essay is about some aspect of one or more of those state laws and so that information is now obsolete. It is left here only for historical purposes for those wishing to understand those old laws and the industry’s response to them.One of the complexities of the modern pharmaceutical supply chain occurs when a pharmaceutical dispensing organization “outsources” the management of their on-premises inventory to their supplier, or “vendor”.  This is known as Vendor Managed Inventory, or VMI.  There are several good reasons this might be done, including eliminating the need to deal with issues that have more to do with supply chain execution mechanics and fluctuating supply and demand than they do with the core competency of dispensing drugs.

When VMI is used in the pharma supply chain the supplier is typically a wholesaler whose core competency is in dealing with those exact issues.  That’s just what they do.  The wholesaler benefits from the VMI relationship because they become the exclusive supplier to the VMI customer.  VMI can be a “win-win” proposition as long as costs are kept in-check.

But what will happen to VMI relationships in California after the California pedigree law goes into effect? 

Continue reading Vendor Managed Inventory Under California ePedigree