Monthly Archives: April 2014

DSCSA, HDMA

Just Released – The HDMA EDI ASN Guidance For DSCSA

3 Comments

HDMA ASN for DSCSA coverNOTICE:  The HDMA has updated this guideline again only a few months after this essay was published.  Please see “HDMA Has Updated Their EDI ASN Guidance For DSCSA, Again” for additional information.  — Dirk.

The Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA) has just published their much anticipated new guidance on applying the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) 856 Advance Ship Notice (ASN) transaction set toward compliance with the new U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), which is Title II of the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA).  HDMA members and non-members can download a copy of the new document here.  Make sure you look for “HDMA Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Guidelines for the 856 Advance Ship Notice to Support Implementation of DSCSA“.  (See the image to the right.)

The new guidance is voluntary, like all HDMA guidance (see “GS1 Identifiers and EPC’s in EDI Messages: Important New HDMA Guidance” and “Updated HDMA Bar Code Guidance: A Must Read“), but companies who Continue reading Just Released – The HDMA EDI ASN Guidance For DSCSA →

Randomization

Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 5: Other Approaches

???????????????????This is the last of a five part interview with Ken Traub, GS1 standards expert and independent consultant, on GS1 serial number randomization.  The full series includes essays covering:

  1. GS1 Serial Number Considerations
  2. Properties of Randomization
  3. Threat Analysis
  4. Algorithmic Approach
  5. Other Approaches to Randomization (this essay)

This week Ken talks about other approaches to serial number randomization.  – Dirk. Continue reading Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 5: Other Approaches →

Randomization

Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 4: The Algorithmic Approach

3 Comments

iStock_000016749706SmallerThis is the fourth installment of a five part interview with Ken Traub, GS1 standards expert and independent consultant, on GS1 serial number randomization.  The full series includes essays covering:

  1. GS1 Serial Number Considerations
  2. Properties of Randomization
  3. Threat Analysis 
  4. Algorithmic Approach (this essay)
  5. Other Approaches to Randomization

In this installment, Ken explains the algorithmic approach to serial number randomization.  – Dirk. Continue reading Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 4: The Algorithmic Approach →

Randomization

Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 3: Threat Analysis

Hacker typing on a laptopThis is the third of a five part interview with Ken Traub, GS1 standards expert and independent consultant, on GS1 serial number randomization.  The full series includes essays covering:

  1. GS1 Serial Number Considerations
  2. Properties of Randomization
  3. Threat Analysis (this essay)
  4. Algorithmic Approach
  5. Other Approaches to Randomization

This week Ken introduces the concept of threat analysis.  – Dirk. Continue reading Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 3: Threat Analysis →

Randomization

Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 2: Properties of Randomization

3 Comments

iStock_000011797297SmallerThis is the second of a five part interview with Ken Traub, GS1 standards expert and independent consultant, on GS1 serial number randomization.  The full series includes essays covering:

  1. GS1 Serial Number Considerations
  2. Properties of Randomization (this essay)
  3. Threat Analysis
  4. Algorithmic Approach
  5. Other Approaches to Randomization

This week Ken introduces three properties of randomization.  — Dirk.

Continue reading Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 2: Properties of Randomization →

Randomization

Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 1: GS1 Serial Number Considerations

Ken Traub
Ken Traub

Over the next two weeks I have a very special treat for RxTrace readers.  It is an interview with Ken Traub, GS1 standards expert and independent consultant.  The subject is GS1 serial number randomization, something so important that I think pharma companies ought to give deep thought to it before they turn on their serial number applications.

Pharma manufacturer who sell into the E.U. and/or Brazil markets will be forced to randomize their serial numbers because of regulatory requirements, but even those who only sell into the U.S. market should strongly consider randomization.  I’ll have more to say about why in a follow-up essay after this series is over.

Because the interview with Ken covers the topic so thoroughly, it is long.  That’s good, because it provides readers with an easy to understand explanation of everything they need to know about randomizing.  But it also makes for a very long essay, so I have broken the interview down into five RxTrace essays.  Read sequentially, they contain the complete interview.  The subtopics covered by those essays include: Continue reading Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 1: GS1 Serial Number Considerations →

UDI

Bringing UDI and the Global UDI Database to Life

1491-125x125_Static_DatesRxTrace is proud to sponsor the 2014 UDI Implementation Workshop to be held in Baltimore on May 20-22.  The UDI Implementation Workshop is specifically for Class III medical device manufacturers who are in immediate need of information and guidance from the UDI experts at the FDA to meet their September 24, 2014 compliance deadline, and for those Class I and II Device manufacturers that need to jumpstart their UDI adoption efforts.

The FDA UDI Team will conduct a roll-up-your sleeves / deep-dive workshop covering all components of the UDI regulation and the Global UDI Database (GUDID) guidance.  This workshop is strictly focused on critical information exchange, expanded interaction, and heightened networking designed to deliver immediate and actual results in your UDI implementation initiative.  If you need to meet the September deadline, don’t miss this workshop.  It is perfectly timed to give you the boost you need to be ready on time. Continue reading Bringing UDI and the Global UDI Database to Life →

DSCSA, FDA

DSCSA: Many Questions, Few Answers

Jung_ConnieConnie T. Jung, RPh, PhD, Acting Associate Director of Policy and Communications, Office of Drug Security, Integrity and Recalls, in the Office of Compliance within the U.S. FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) delivered an overview of the new Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) during a webinar last Monday.  The title of the webinar was “FDA Perspectives on Implementation of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act”.  The webinar is one of a series that the Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA) plans to offer on related topics through the remainder of the year.  If you missed it, don’t worry, they will post the recording and the slides on the HDMA event web page.

I have to give credit to Dr. Jung and the FDA in general for being willing to make presentations like this at this time.  The material they cover is a good overview of the new law at a high level.  The tough part for the speaker comes at the end when the floor is opened up for Q&A.  There were a number of very good questions asked by participants on this one, but most were answered with simple reference to future guidance.  Here is Dr. Jung’s answer to Continue reading DSCSA: Many Questions, Few Answers →