Last week, Brazil’s pharma industry regulatory agency, the National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance (ANVISA), announced that they were “suspending” at least part of RDC-54/2013, the declaration that mandated drug serialization and tracing, until further notice. Thank you to all who forwarded the link to the official announcement. I was able to translate and read it on Thursday, and I submitted a comment on my own last essay, “Pharma Serialization Deadlines In Flux“, to include the link. Apparently shortly after that essay was published, ANVISA Continue reading Brazil Suspends Pharma Serialization And Tracing Requirements
Yearly Archives: 2015
Sponsored: Pharma Serialization Deadlines In Flux
The industry is rife with rumors that Brazil’s ANVISA has made the decision to push out their serialization deadline for multiple years—and perhaps redefine the requirements. I cannot confirm any of these rumors at this point and I do not recommend acting on rumors. I suggest you continue down the path of meeting the existing, known regulation until—if ever—you get the official word from an official publication of ANVISA. Who knows when that might occur. If/when you see something official, let me know. Continue reading Sponsored: Pharma Serialization Deadlines In Flux
Will Manufacturers Be Able To Grandfather Products In Their DC And 3PL?
Regulations often make use of a concept known as “grandfathering” to soften a given deadline so that it is easier for companies to meet. When allowed, grandfathering allows a company to continue doing something after a regulatory deadline that mandates a change, as long as one or more pre-conditions apply. For example, Section 582(a)(5)(B) of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) allows wholesale distributors, and repackagers to sell drugs that were already within the supply chain on January 1, 2015 without passing the necessary transaction data. This makes sense because companies were not obligated to supply that data before that date and so some of the assertions required in the Transaction Statement would not be true (among other problems that grandfathering eliminates). [Of course, Continue reading Will Manufacturers Be Able To Grandfather Products In Their DC And 3PL?
SAP Makes Bold Move Into Pharma Traceability
Last week SAP announced the availability of their brand new software module they are calling “SAP Advanced Track and Trace for Pharmaceuticals”, or ATTP. Pharmaceutical Commerce magazine published an article about it recently that provides the details of what is contained in this new module. The same issue contained a sponsored article from SAP about the module. As long-term readers of RxTrace know, I do not endorse specific products and I rarely even write about specific products. This essay is not an endorsement— Continue reading SAP Makes Bold Move Into Pharma Traceability
Again, A Closer Look At The Six-Year Record-Keeping Requirement
It was a very beautiful weekend here in the Chicago area, and consequently I could not bring myself to spend any part of it sitting in front of a computer hammering out a new essay, so for the second week in a row (sorry), here is a re-run of a popular essay from July 14, 2014. I promise to return next week with a brand new essay.
The Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) contains record-keeping requirements for drug manufacturers, wholesale distributors, repackagers and dispensers that begin on January 1st, 2015, All companies must keep a copy of the Transaction Information (TI), Transaction History (TH), and Transaction Statements (TS) they receive and those they send for at least six years. In addition, manufacturers and repackagers must also retain Continue reading Again, A Closer Look At The Six-Year Record-Keeping Requirement
Again, Should You Off-Load Your DSCSA Obligations To Your Contract Partners?
I spent my holiday weekend having fun with my family and I hope you did the same. Instead of spending my holiday writing a new RxTrace essay I am re-running one of my better essays, originally posted on October 6, 2014. If you missed it then, or even if you read it then, it is worth another read. See if you agree:
Manufacturers who make use of third-party contract manufacturers, contract packagers and/or third-party logistics providers (3PLs) may wish to off-load their 2015 and 2017 obligations under the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) to those contract organizations. These obligations include Continue reading Again, Should You Off-Load Your DSCSA Obligations To Your Contract Partners?
An Open Letter To The FDA, EMA and ANVISA, RE: Who Are You Going To Punish?
Dear FDA, EMA and ANVISA,
How are you? I’m sure your summer has been busy, just like mine. Hope you were able to get at least some time away. I’ve taken most Saturdays off, but the other days of the week have been very full with consulting, and then writing RxTrace essays every Sunday. You know, the wife is not very happy about that!
The reason I am writing directly to you at this time is to ask a question that I hope you are asking yourselves and planning ahead for. Continue reading An Open Letter To The FDA, EMA and ANVISA, RE: Who Are You Going To Punish?
The ‘Unique Identifier’ in the EU Delegated Act
The European Commission published a discussion draft of the European Union Delegated Act (EUDA) about two weeks ago (See “Breaking News: The EC Has Published The Delegated Act“). The EUDA was called for in the Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) back in 2011 and is primarily intended to define the “safety features” that must appear on most drugs three years after it is finalized. Assuming it gets finalized around the end of 2015, that means that manufacturers and repackagers targeting the European pharmaceutical market will need to begin placing the specified safety features on their drug packages near the end of 2018. EU Member States who already have an operational drug tracing law, like Italy and a few others, get an additional six years for companies to switch to the FMD and EUDA on drugs distributed there.
There are a lot of details Continue reading The ‘Unique Identifier’ in the EU Delegated Act
