All posts by Dirk Rodgers

Dirk is the founder of RxTrace where he writes regularly on the intersection between the pharmaceutical supply chain, track and trace technology, standards and regulatory compliance. He has written hundreds of essays on those specific topics. A logical thinker, Dirk is skilled at making complex technical topics understandable to non-technical readers and listeners. An Electrical and Computer Engineer by education, Dirk has worked as a consultant, software architect and automation engineer during a career spanning 30 years. Overall, Dirk's thought leadership has helped to expose hidden complexities and reveal surprising consequences and implications of drug serialization and pedigree laws around the world. Dirk is the author of "The Drug Supply Chain Security Act Explained". View Dirk's LinkedIn Profile Follow Dirk on Twitter
Reimportation

Here We Go Again. Florida Flirts With Opening Door To Counterfeits

Earlier this month, the state of Florida (population:  21 million) passed a law that seeks to enable the importation of drugs from Canada (population:  37 million).  The goal is to carve out some way for Florida residents to take advantage of the lower drug prices that Canadian citizens enjoy.  Canada is a “single payer” healthcare country, except for prescription drugs, which are not covered by the Canadian universal public health insurance system.  The reason some drugs are cheaper in Canada than they are here in the US is because the government is allowed to negotiate with drug companies to set pricing for their citizens.  But in the US, Congress has specifically denied that option for itself, except for Medicare.

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DSCSA

Is The FDA About To Delay Enforcement Of The Wholesaler’s 2019 Mandate?

2 Comments

On November 27, 2019 the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) requires wholesale distributors to step up their supply chain security activities another notch.  They are required to:

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GS1, UDI

Meet The Latest GS1 Key: The Global Model Number (GMN)

GS1 makes modifications and additions to their General Specifications every year—sometimes even twice a year.  The latest is version 19 and was published in January 2019.  The “GenSpecs” contain the full detailed definitions of every GS1 “key” and every GS1 barcode.  While it doesn’t contain the definitions of every GS1 standard, it is the catch-all specification for their traditional core—mostly barcode related—standards.  This is where GS1’s keys are defined, included the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN, Application Identifier, or AI = 01), Global Location Number (GLN), Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC, AI = 00), Global Returnable Asset Identifier (GRAI, AI = 8003) and all the others.  Last year (GenSpecs version 18) GS1 introduced their latest key, the Global Model Number (GMN, AI = 8013).  It’s an important addition, particularly for healthcare.  Let me explain.

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China

China: NMPA Drug Traceability Guidance

Most RxTrace readers will recall that China was an early adopter of drug traceability.  Back in 2007, companies were required to begin printing unique identifiers in linear barcodes on certain drug packages.  The unique identifiers had to be purchased from a government contractor.  The list of drugs grew each year to the point where all drugs were effectively covered by early 2016.  But shortly after that, the whole requirement was suspended (see “China’s Retreat From Pharma Serialization: Will This Become A Global Trend?” and “China Adds Traceability Requirement To CFDA Drug Quality Management Specification”).  Then last summer, a new government agency, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), posted three draft guidance documents for review and comments (see “China Posts New Draft Pharma Serialization Guidelines”).  Finally, last month, the NMPA published two of those documents in final form, “Implemented on April 19, 2019”. 

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ANVISA

Brazil: The Anvisa 2019 Pilot Report

Earlier this month Anvisa published an initial report on their drug traceability pilot as required by law there (see “Brazil Gets Rational With Their New Pharma Traceability Law” and “Brazil Publishes RDC-157 To Regulate 2017 3-Lot Pilot”).  I finally had time to use Google Translate on that report.  Google keeps improving their translation software and it is now to the point where I think the translation of this document is pretty good.  I still don’t recommend you use it for compliance decisions, but it’s great for getting a preview of what the document—originally in Portuguese—says.

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DSCSA

DSCSA: Historic Change To Commerce

Back in 2010 I posted an RxTrace essay called “California Pedigree Law:  Historic Change To Commerce” that pointed out the significant change that was then scheduled to occur once the California law was to go into full effect in 2016.  Of course, that state law was preempted by the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) back in 2013 so we never actually experience that change.  But what about the DSCSA?  Will it change the way commerce happens in a historic way?  Let’s take a look.

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Governance

PDSA Brainstorms Vision For DSCSA Governance Organization With Stakeholders

Last week the Pharmaceutical Distribution Security Alliance (PDSA) held a workshop for interested stakeholders to brainstorm just how their proposed independent, balanced and sector-neutral organization might meet their vision.  This was the follow-on meeting tied to the publication of two documents last month that provided their “vision” and the actual proposal for the organization (see “PDSA’s Proposal for Governance of DSCSA Phase II Interoperability”). 

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Aggregation

An Aggregation ‘Discussion’

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Trade item, logistics unit…or both?

Aggregation of saleable drug packages to shipping cases and pallets is not required by the US Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) or the EU Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) or the related Delegated Regulation (EUDR).  But certain business processes in the EU under the FMD will be difficult to accomplish without it, and after November 2023, the operation of the supply chain in the US will not be efficient without it (see “Aggregation: The Achilles’ Heel of Pharma Supply Chain Operation Under A Serialization Regulation”, “EU FMD: Aggregation Is Not Mandated, But It Will Be Necessary” and “Pharma Aggregation: How Companies Are Achieving Perfection Today”).  Absent a mandate, companies need to recognize, themselves, just how vital aggregation is to their businesses and prepare to generate it and/or make use of it.

Continue reading An Aggregation ‘Discussion’ →