Tag Archives: 3PL

FDA Forfeits Opportunity To Guide Industry

fda-building-2016-10-14-16-38-20I hope you were able to attend last Friday’s FDA DSCSA Public Meeting at FDA’s White Oak, Maryland campus (see “FDA To Hold DSCSA Public Meeting”).  If you missed it, make sure you listen in on the recording that the FDA will provide on the event webpage.  You can also submit written comments through that page as well.  The event was called “Progress Toward Implementing the Product Identification Requirements of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA)” and it consisted of very brief introductory comments by the FDA followed by presentations made by attendees who applied for a speaking slot.  Presentations covering progress toward the November 27, 2017 DSCSA serialization requirements were made by: Continue reading FDA Forfeits Opportunity To Guide Industry

Will Manufacturers Be Able To Grandfather Products In Their DC And 3PL? Again

Grandfather clockThis week I am posting one of my favorite essays from last fall because at this moment, I am in the middle of moving my home and office from one side of the Chicago metro area to the other to be closer to our kids.  Also at this moment, the FDA is almost eight months late in publishing the grandfathering guidance that was mandated by the DSCSA.  Here it is again.

Regulations often make use of a concept known as “grandfathering” to soften a given deadline so that it is easier for companies to meet.  When allowed, grandfathering allows Continue reading Will Manufacturers Be Able To Grandfather Products In Their DC And 3PL? Again

Who Is Being Harmed By Four Overdue FDA DSCSA Guidances?

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Congress set the calendar for many different kinds of requirements when it adopted the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, signed by the President back on November 27, 2013.  One of those dates was last November 27, 2015, two years after enactment, when the FDA was required to publish four new draft guidances.  So far, none of them have appeared (see “FDA DSCSA Deadline Passes Quietly”).  Continue reading Who Is Being Harmed By Four Overdue FDA DSCSA Guidances?

FDA Posts Wholesale Distributor and 3PL License Database

FDALogoYesterday the U.S. FDA posted the first issue of the wholesale distributor and third-party logistics provider (3PL) database as mandated by the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).  Through this webpage, you can either download the entire database (in .XLS form), or enter a specific query and then download that result set if desired.  I couldn’t get the result set download to work, so there are obviously some bugs that need to get worked out, but this is still an important step in the implementation of the DSCSA.

With this posting, anyone who buys drugs Continue reading FDA Posts Wholesale Distributor and 3PL License Database

Will Manufacturers Be Able To Grandfather Products In Their DC And 3PL?

Grandfather clockRegulations often make use of a concept known as “grandfathering” to soften a given deadline so that it is easier for companies to meet.  When allowed, grandfathering allows a company to continue doing something after a regulatory deadline that mandates a change, as long as one or more pre-conditions apply.  For example, Section 582(a)(5)(B) of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) allows wholesale distributors, and repackagers to sell drugs that were already within the supply chain on January 1, 2015 without passing the necessary transaction data.  This makes sense because companies were not obligated to supply that data before that date and so some of the assertions required in the Transaction Statement would not be true (among other problems that grandfathering eliminates).  [Of course, Continue reading Will Manufacturers Be Able To Grandfather Products In Their DC And 3PL?

Again, Should You Off-Load Your DSCSA Obligations To Your Contract Partners?

??????????????????????I spent my holiday weekend having fun with my family and I hope you did the same.  Instead of spending my holiday writing a new RxTrace essay I am re-running one of my better essays, originally posted on October 6, 2014.  If you missed it then, or even if you read it then, it is worth another read.  See if you agree:

Manufacturers who make use of third-party contract manufacturers, contract packagers and/or third-party logistics providers (3PLs) may wish to off-load their 2015 and 2017 obligations under the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) to those contract organizations.  These obligations include Continue reading Again, Should You Off-Load Your DSCSA Obligations To Your Contract Partners?

3PL Operation Under The DSCSA

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Photo from Wikipedia

Another type of business affected by the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) is the third party logistics provider (3PL) business.

I wrote an RxTrace essay about the impact of the California pedigree law on 3PLs back in 2013 (see “3PL Operation Under California ePedigree“).  This is an update of that essay to address the impacts of the new DSCSA on 3PLs since the California pedigree law is now obsolete.

There are a number of important differences between wholesale distributors and 3PLs as defined in the DSCSA. Continue reading 3PL Operation Under The DSCSA

Vendor Managed Inventory Under the DSCSA

At the counterI wrote this essay on Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) back in 2013 which was aimed at what would likely happen to VMI under the California pedigree law (see “Vendor Managed Inventory Under California ePedigree”).  But even though that law is now obsolete (see “The California Pedigree Law Is Now Officially Inoperative“), surprise, some of the same issues crop up when VMI is performed under the DSCSA.  So I converted the original essay to speak to VMI under the DSCSA.  I think you will agree, it is still pertinent…

One of the complexities of the modern pharmaceutical supply chain occurs when a pharmaceutical dispensing organization “outsources” the management of their on-premises inventory to their supplier, or “vendor”.  This is known as Vendor Managed Inventory, or VMI.  There are several Continue reading Vendor Managed Inventory Under the DSCSA