Category Archives: Interoperability

DSCSA, Interoperability, PDSA

PDSA Releases Prospectus To Prospective Governance Group Members

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Last week the Pharmaceutical Distribution Security Alliance (PDSA) released a prospectus for the, as yet, unnamed non-profit organization that they are trying to kickstart to help govern supply chain interoperability of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) solutions targeting the Enhance Drug Distribution Security (EDDS) phase that will go into effect in November of 2023 (see “PDSA’s Proposal for Governance of DSCSA Phase II Interoperability” and “PDSA Brainstorms Vision For DSCSA Governance Organization With Stakeholders”).  You can download the prospectus here.

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Interoperability

Global Regulators Recommend Track & Trace Interoperability Features

Back in the fall of 2017 the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA) published a paper containing recommendations for pharmaceutical product regulators around the world to consider for achieving future interoperability of national or market pharma track and trace systems.  That is, their recommendations were aimed at enabling interoperability between and among the various current and future pharma track & trace regulated systems around the globe.  For example, their recommendations could help the US FDA exchange and accept information from the European Medicines Verification System (EMVS), and vice versa.  In this way, regulators in each market could learn about problems with drug products circulating within each other’s markets.  Why would you want to do such a thing?  Let’s take a look at their 2017 paper.

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DSCSA, EDDS, Interoperability, PDSA

PDSA’s Proposal for Governance of DSCSA Phase II Interoperability

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Last week, the Pharmaceutical Distribution Security Alliance (PDSA) published two papers aimed at kickstarting the creation of a new non-profit organization that would accept the responsibility for setting up and executing governance over Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) phase II interoperability (see “A Serious DSCSA Governance Organizational Proposal Emerges From PDSA”).  PDSA defines “DSCSA phase II” to be the same as what the DSCSA text calls the “Enhanced Drug Distribution Security” (EDDS) phase (see “EDDS: The New Data Exchange Requirements”).  The EDDS phase (err, Phase II of the DSCSA) starts on November 27, 2023.  In most informal conversations this phase is usually just referred to as “2023”. 

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DSCSA, Interoperability

DSCSA: Interoperable Data Exchange In 2023

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Lots of people have been talking lately about what interoperable data exchange in the US pharma supply chain will look like after the Enhance Drug Distribution Security (EDDS) phase of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) takes effect in November 2023 (see “Does Interoperability Change In 2023?”, “5 Myths About The DSCSA In 2023” and “Interoperability And The DSCSA”). 

Increasingly, I’ve heard the opinion expressed that there will surely be multiple approaches adopted for exchanging data, and so it will be necessary for all of those approaches to be made interoperable with each other.  Proponents of this idea claim it is unrealistic to expect a single approach to be accepted by all companies in the supply chain and therefore, having to deal with multiple approaches is inevitable.  This kind of talk makes me nervous.  Here’s why.

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DSCSA, Interoperability

Interoperability And The DSCSA

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Divi-Divi tree Aruba. Click image to enlarge.
Divi-Divi tree in Aruba. Click image to enlarge.

I just arrived home from a vacation in Aruba so I missed out on the winter weather many of you experienced last week.  Here are a few pictures to help warm you up!

While I was in Aruba I spent some time thinking about interoperability as it applies to the provisions of the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).  The text of the law uses the term “interoperable” multiple times with regard to the exchange of data between trading partners, but interestingly, it does not define the term.  That leaves the definition of the term up to the FDA.

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