Digital electronic messages can be transmitted from one party to another using a wide range of communications technologies.  Today, businesses that make use of the internet to transmit their business messages to and from their trading partners make use of standards-based Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) message formatting.

EDI messages are typically transmitted point-to-point, from one business to one other business.  There are a large number of EDI message types defined but in the pharmaceutical supply chain the most common messages are purchase orders, purchase order acknowledgments, invoices and advance shipment notices (ASN’s).  (While I have the chance, I’d like to point out that ASN’s are not pedigrees for multiple reasons that I will not cover in this essay.)

In the U.S. pharma supply chain AS2 is the most common communications protocol in use for EDI message exchange.  AS2 provides generalized message security to ensure that the messages cannot be understood or tampered with by unauthorized parties during movement from sender to recipient.  According to Wikipedia, these are achieved through the use of digital certificates and encryption.  Messages can optionally be digitally signed by the sender to provide non-repudiation within the AS2 payload context.

Electronic pedigrees as defined by the states of Florida and California are messages that contain fairly complex legal documentation which describe the chain of custody or ownership of a given package of drugs, but they also contain several types of legally required certifications. Continue reading Electronic Message Security and More on Certifications →