Category Archives: DSCSA

DSCSA

The 2 Most Helpful Requirements In The DSCSA

There are lots of impactful requirements in the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), but there are two whose impact will likely increase the safety of patients far more than all of the others.  That is, they are the most helpful requirements.  Do they include serialization?  Verification?  Transaction documentation?  Wholesaler and 3PL licensing?  Not even close.

The two requirements that I believe will have the biggest impact on the safety of drugs in the US supply chain are the requirement to only engage in transactions with authorized trading partners, and the lot number being included in the 2D barcode.  Let me explain. Continue reading The 2 Most Helpful Requirements In The DSCSA →

DSCSA

DSCSA Guidance: Standardization of Data & Documentation Practices for Product Tracing

The second—and longer—draft guidance document the FDA published on the day of the third DSCSA public meeting is a “catch-all” (see also “DSCSA Guidance: Definitions of Suspect and Illegitimate Product for Verification Obligations” and “FDA DSCSA Public Meeting #3: A Difference?”).  It contains lots of diverse recommendations, all related to the standardization of data contained in the DSCSA transaction information (TI), transaction history (TH), and transaction statement (TS).  This draft guidance applies to every member of the supply chain, including drug manufacturers, CMOs, 3PLs, wholesale distributors, repackagers and dispensers of all kinds.  Everyone should read it and submit comments to the FDA when something isn’t clear enough.  Continue reading DSCSA Guidance: Standardization of Data & Documentation Practices for Product Tracing →

DSCSA

DSCSA Guidance: Definitions of Suspect and Illegitimate Product for Verification Obligations

As I mentioned last week, the FDA published two new draft DSCSA guidance documents on the day of the recent FDA DSCSA Public Meeting (see “FDA DSCSA Public Meeting #3: A Difference?”).  Let’s take a closer look at what’s in them and their significance to companies facing the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).  I’ll cover one of the two in this essay and cover the other document in the next essay. Continue reading DSCSA Guidance: Definitions of Suspect and Illegitimate Product for Verification Obligations →

DSCSA

FDA DSCSA Public Meeting #3: A Difference?

Last Wednesday the FDA held the third in a series of three Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) public meetings (see “FDA Announces New DSCSA Pilot Program and Public Meeting Series”).  I noticed a few important differences at this meeting compared with the two previous meetings (see “FDA DSCSA Public Meeting #1 Exposes Gulf In Goals”, and “FDA DSCSA Public Meeting #2, Still A Gulf”).

Overall, these differences indicate that the FDA may be beginning to recognize how much ground they and the industry must cover between now and November of 2023, and it appears that has led them to get a little more rational.  One meeting is not enough to establish a change in pattern, but if it eventually proves true, then this meeting would be the beginning of that change.  A big injection of rationality is what happened in Brazil back in late 2016 (see “Brazil Gets Rational With Their New Pharma Traceability Law”) and that seems to have put them on a course for success.  Could something similar be happening here? Continue reading FDA DSCSA Public Meeting #3: A Difference? →

DSCSA

Human Readable Text Controversy

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This example shows a compromise alternative to print both the NDC and the GS1 GTIN in the DSCSA Product Code human readable, following the GS1 General Specifications healthcare human readable guidelines in section 4.14.1

I was a little surprised at how heated the discussion was at the breakfast table back during last year’s Healthcare Distribution Alliance (HDA) Traceability Seminar.  I chose an open seat at a table with people from multiple drug manufacturers and someone from GS1 US.  Our conversation at the table started out typically—the weather, the previous day’s speakers—the usual.  I had recently been thinking about the human readable portion of the Product Identifier mandated by the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) (see “The DSCSA Product Identifier On Drug Packages”), so I asked everyone what their company was planning to do? Continue reading Human Readable Text Controversy →

Anti-counterfeiting, Brand Protection, DSCSA

Sponsored: Dispenser Perspectives On The DSCSA: An IQPC Interview

Many RxTrace readers have a fairly good understanding of the perspective of drug manufacturers and wholesale distributors regarding the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) and its implementation, but dispenser perspectives are not so well understood.  Enter IQPC who interviewed Brian Files, Principal Consultant with Healthcare Strategies Consulting Group and former Director, Inventory and Compliance with CVS Health, one of the largest chain pharmacies in the US, to find out his perspectives on the DSCSA.

Continue reading Sponsored: Dispenser Perspectives On The DSCSA: An IQPC Interview →

DSCSA

Wholesalers Find Troubling Results In DSCSA Barcode Assessment

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Last month GS1 US published the results of an assessment of the implementation progress by drug manufacturers of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) serialization requirements.  It contains troubling indications of the next problem the industry will face in its quest for DSCSA compliance:  too many unusable barcodes.

Big deal, you say?  That kind of complacency could come back to haunt you later this year.  Now is the time to look at your own packages and address any deficiencies.  Here is a look at what GS1 US found in their assessment. Continue reading Wholesalers Find Troubling Results In DSCSA Barcode Assessment →

DSCSA

Blockchain Will Not Be Used For DSCSA Data Exchange

That’s right.  I have now concluded that Blockchain will never be used in the US supply chain to fulfill the DSCSA requirement for sellers to provide buyers with Transaction Information (TI) and Transaction Statements (TS) (see also “Could Blockchain Technology Be Used For DSCSA Compliance?”).  So if you are currently planning to do a pilot to test a proposed architecture to do that, I recommend that you adjust it to test something else (see also “What Should FDA Pilot?”).

In fact, the thing to test is whether or not it can be used to facilitate gathering the TIs for a given Standardized Numerical Identifier (SNI) going back to the original manufacturer, as needed after November 27, 2023 during a suspect product investigation or recall.  Those are rare events compared with the number of drug sales and shipments where the TI and TS will need to be exchanged.

How and why did I come to this conclusion?  Let me explain. Continue reading Blockchain Will Not Be Used For DSCSA Data Exchange →