Category Archives: Federal Pedigree

U.S. Senate Passes H.R. 3204 With A Voice Vote

flag-usThe U.S. Senate has passed H.R. 3204, the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA) with a voice vote, sending the important legislation to the desk of President Barack Obama.  The President is expected to sign it happily.  In an email to members, John M. Gray, President and CEO of the Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA) stated:

“Today the U.S. Senate passed the Drug Quality and Security Act (H.R. 3204). We expect it will be quickly signed into law by the President. This is the culmination of nearly 10 years of effort by HDMA members to preempt all state laws relating to drug pedigrees and track-and-trace systems, to further enhance the security and safety of our nation’s drug supply chain. Since 2004, HDMA has Continue reading U.S. Senate Passes H.R. 3204 With A Voice Vote

All Eyes On The U.S. Senate Tonight

U.S. Capitol building, Senate wing. The flag above the wing indicates that the Senate is in session.
U.S. Capitol building, Senate wing. The flag above the wing indicates that the Senate is in session.  Photo by Dirk.  Click to enlarge.

The effort to enact a nationwide pharmaceutical serialization law that would preempt all state laws has been going on for four or five years now, and this evening could be the culmination of all of those efforts.  The U.S. Senate calendar for today makes the passage of H.R. 3204, the Drug Quality and Security Act a top priority.  It finally looks like it is going to happen.

The official Senate calendar for today includes the following as the first order of business:

“                         CALENDAR OF BUSINESS

Monday, November 18, 2013

SENATE CONVENES AT 2:00 P.M.

PENDING BUSINESS

H.R. 3204 (ORDER NO. 236)

An act to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to human drug compounding and drug supply chain security, and for other purposes. Continue reading All Eyes On The U.S. Senate Tonight

The Flaw That Must Be Addressed in H.R. 3204, The Drug Quality and Security Act

DQSA ePedigree timeline.ZoomRumors abound that the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA), H.R. 3204 will be debated and voted on in the Senate any day now (see “Waiting For The Senate To Act On A Track & Trace Bill, Again”).  It already passed the House of Representatives back in September and the text is a compromise between the bill managers in both the House and the Senate, so everyone expects it to pass and be signed into law by President Obama.  No one (except maybe some folks who don’t like the compounding part) wants to see its progress slowed, but there is a problem with the track and trace part that must be addressed before it is adopted or its implementation will quickly run into difficulties. Continue reading The Flaw That Must Be Addressed in H.R. 3204, The Drug Quality and Security Act

California, Congress and The Choices We Are Forced To Face

The Thinker statueImportant Notice To Readers of This Essay On November 27, 2013, President Barack Obama signed the Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013 into law. That act has many provisions, but one is to pre-empt all existing and future state serialization and pedigree laws like those that previously existed in California and Florida. Some or all of the information contained in this essay is about some aspect of one or more of those state laws and so that information is now obsolete. It is left here only for historical purposes for those wishing to understand those old laws and the industry’s response to them.Another week has gone by with no official movement in the Senate on the compromise pharmaceutical compounding and track & trace bill, H.R. 3204, the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA) (see “Waiting For The Senate To Act On A Track & Trace Bill, Again”).  With the focus of the Congress rightly on reopening the government I think we should expect to wait a little longer.  You can bet that the supporters and the opposition are both developing their strategy as time goes by.

I attended the GS1 Global Healthcare Conference in San Francisco last week and it was a great opportunity to reconnect with a lot of people I have worked with over the years on defining workable standards for healthcare supply chain data exchange.  Some of us are Continue reading California, Congress and The Choices We Are Forced To Face

Waiting For The Senate To Act On A Track & Trace Bill, Again

us-senate-logoThe U.S. House of Representatives made quick work of the new bipartisan, bicameral compounding and track & trace bill draft that was circulated only last Wednesday evening (see “InBrief: Important New Bicameral Draft Of A Pharma Supply Chain Security Bill”).  They interrupted their debate over defunding “ObamaCare”, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), for a quick voice vote on the newly numbered H.R. 3204, Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA) and it passed (see the draft bill here).

So now we are waiting for the Senate to take action, just as we have for the last 3 months since the House of Representatives voted to pass their earlier bill with drug supply chain track & trace provisions, H.R. 1919, Safeguarding America’s Pharmaceuticals Act, back in June (see “InBrief: The Pharma Track & Trace Bill Has Passed the U.S. House Of Representatives“ and “Still Waiting For The Senate”).  The Senate had their own Continue reading Waiting For The Senate To Act On A Track & Trace Bill, Again

InBrief: Important New Bicameral Draft Of A Pharma Supply Chain Security Bill

US CapitolI just arrived in California a couple hours ago to attend the next California Board of Pharmacy ePedigree Committee meeting later this morning.  I was expecting to check into my hotel and go to bed, but as soon as I turned my phone back on I received multiple notices that a new bipartisan, bicameral draft of a pharma supply chain security bill was being circulated for review and comment.  The email from the Senate HELP Committee was timestamped at 9:54pm EDT on Wednesday and they want people to comment on it by noon on Thursday.  Wow.  I still hope to get some sleep tonight, but I wanted to Continue reading InBrief: Important New Bicameral Draft Of A Pharma Supply Chain Security Bill

Federal Pedigree: Caught In A Web Of Politics

spiderwebSeventeen months ago, the goal of the Pharmaceutical Distribution Security Alliance (PDSA) was to get a nationwide track & trace bill introduced into Congress and then get it attached to some “must-pass” legislation which would pull it through to certain passage.  They found sympathetic members of both houses of Congress and they worked together to produce a single bill.  Last summer the “must-pass” legislation was the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) which was combined with other bills and was enacted as the FDA Security and Innovation Act (FDASIA).  See “What If RxTEC Isn’t Adopted?”, “PDUFA Will Not Include RxTEC” and “The Supply Chain Provisions Of The FDA Safety & Innovation Act”.)

Unfortunately the track & trace Continue reading Federal Pedigree: Caught In A Web Of Politics

Senators Propose Amendments To S. 959

BillAs many of you pointed out to me in private emails last Friday after I had claimed that things had been quiet, there had indeed been some significant activity on S. 959, “Pharmaceutical Quality, Security, and Accountability Act” (PQSA) that occurred last week.  Even though the bill was awaiting action on the Senate floor, the bill managers in the Senate are apparently able to pull it back and amend it, and that’s what they did.  The bill is a combination of the “Pharmaceutical Compounding Quality and Accountability Act” and the “Drug Supply Chain Security Act” and my interest is in the latter so I will limit my analysis to that part of the current bill.

The amendments are fairly light and sprinkled throughout.  Most have little to no affect on the meaning or implementation of the bill–these include reformatting, corrections and minor logical adjustments–but there are a few things that are notable. Continue reading Senators Propose Amendments To S. 959