How the DQSA Will–And Won’t–Protect The Supply Chain, Part 2

Superhero right to leftLast week I published an overly long essay about how the supply chain provisions of the new U.S. Federal DQSA will and won’t protect the pharma supply chain.  Believe it or not, I had more to say on the subject, but because that essay was already too long, I withheld my additional thoughts until now.  Part 1 took another look at a number of supply chain crimes that have occurred over the last 5 to 6 years and attempted to determine how the new Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) that is contained within the DQSA will add new protections that will or won’t help prevent crimes like them in the future.

In this Part 2 essay I want to look at the issue in a different way.  I’d like to compare the approach that Continue reading How the DQSA Will–And Won’t–Protect The Supply Chain, Part 2

How the DQSA Will–And Won’t–Protect The Supply Chain, Part 1

SuperheroThe supply chain provisions contained within the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA)—themselves known as the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA)—mark a significant achievement by Congress and the industry to protect the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain from criminals.  It is the first completed attempt since 1987 when the Prescription Drug Marketing Act (PDMA) was enacted by Congress and signed by President Ronald Reagan.  In comparison, the provisions of the DSCSA are much more detailed and extensive than the PDMA and they read as if they were heavily influenced by people who solidly understand the scale and complexity of the legitimate supply chain.  Which, they were, based on the contribution of the Pharmaceutical Distribution Security Alliance (PDSA)—made up of key stakeholders in the supply chain—in their development.  That should ensure that the industry will be able to adopt the technology and process modifications necessary to meet the new law on time.

But will all this also lead to true protection of the supply chain from criminal activities?  Will the DSCSA portion of the DQSA end up presenting new and insurmountable barriers against criminals who game the supply chain to their advantage and thereby putting patients at risk?  These are the true measures of the success of this type of legislation.  How can we know if the DSCSA will have these positive affects? Continue reading How the DQSA Will–And Won’t–Protect The Supply Chain, Part 1

Sponsored: Transatlantic Alignment

Happy Martin Luther King day!  Today we have a special guest blog essay by Mark Davison of Blue Sphere Health in the U.K..   Mark is the author of the book, “Pharmaceutical Anti-Counterfeiting”, published by Wiley in 2011. – Dirk.

BPH.logo-lrg2Pharmaceutical traceability (in its various nuances of serialization, aggregation, track and trace, epedigree etc) has been proposed, debated, boosted and resisted for a very long time. The labyrinthine twists and turns have been examined in near real time on RxTrace and I won’t revisit them here. However, the passing of the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA) late last year opens a new chapter.  It means greater transatlantic clarity of future compliance requirements and (whether intentional or not) it also brings near synchrony of some key deadlines. Continue reading Sponsored: Transatlantic Alignment

Don’t Skip The DQSA Definition of Terms Section

2014-01-10 16.02.25Lots of people across the U.S. pharma supply chain are spending their spare time these days trying to read and understand the U.S. Federal Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA) that was enacted in November and begins to take effect in a significant way next January (see “It’s Official, President Obama Signs H.R. 3204, DQSA, Into Law”).  I am one of those people.

I have carried a printout of Title II (the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, or DSCSA) of the DQSA around with me ever since it was passed and it is now so dog-eared and marked up that I am about ready to print out another copy.  Only trouble is, I would need most of those markings in the new copy too, so I just keep using the same printout.

My understanding of the law and its implications rises every time I study it.  Sometimes Continue reading Don’t Skip The DQSA Definition of Terms Section

Detecting Drug Diversion With Data Analytics–An RxTrace Interview With Analytics Expert Kosta Tzavaras

phiSystems_Logo2This week I have a special treat to share with RxTrace readers.  It is an interview I recently conducted with Kosta Tzavaras, author, publisher, leading data management expert in the pharmaceutical industry and Solutions Manager with Phi Systems in Thousand Oaks, California.  Kosta is a consultant to pharma and biotech manufacturers specializing in data analytics using supply chain and reimbursement data to help detect various kinds of drug diversion.

The original interview was conducted last summer and we updated it last week to reflect the recent passage of the Federal Drug Quality and Security Act.

DirkWelcome Kosta.  Please describe your business…what it is that you do at a high level? 

Kosta:  Phi Systems is focusing in a niche area within the brand protection business in pharmaceuticals dealing with provider type of diversion, that is where healthcare providers are involved.  The two particular areas I’m focusing on are physician office diversion—diversion that is enabled by the actions of certain physicians and their practices—and the second has to do with 340B diversion or PHS (Public Health Services) account diversion.  That is diversion enabled, again, by Continue reading Detecting Drug Diversion With Data Analytics–An RxTrace Interview With Analytics Expert Kosta Tzavaras