Tag Archives: Aggregation

Aggregation

An Aggregation ‘Discussion’

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Trade item, logistics unit…or both?

Aggregation of saleable drug packages to shipping cases and pallets is not required by the US Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) or the EU Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) or the related Delegated Regulation (EUDR).  But certain business processes in the EU under the FMD will be difficult to accomplish without it, and after November 2023, the operation of the supply chain in the US will not be efficient without it (see “Aggregation: The Achilles’ Heel of Pharma Supply Chain Operation Under A Serialization Regulation”, “EU FMD: Aggregation Is Not Mandated, But It Will Be Necessary” and “Pharma Aggregation: How Companies Are Achieving Perfection Today”).  Absent a mandate, companies need to recognize, themselves, just how vital aggregation is to their businesses and prepare to generate it and/or make use of it.

Continue reading An Aggregation ‘Discussion’ →
Aggregation, EU FMD

Aggregation Under the FMD

Two weeks ago, an EU Member State Expert Group connected to the European Commission (EC) published a paper aimed at explaining what hospitals should do to meet their obligation to verify and decommission drugs after the Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) Delegated Regulation (EUDR) goes into effect on February 9, 2019.  The new paper is all about aggregation and its use by Continue reading Aggregation Under the FMD →

Aggregation

Aggregation: The Achilles’ Heel of Pharma Supply Chain Operation Under A Serialization Regulation

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View of a layer of drug cartons inside a case. Photo courtesy of Omega Design. Click image to enlarge.

Neither the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) in the United States, nor the Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) in the European Union explicitly mandates the capture or use of aggregation data (see “Aggregation –> Chargeback Accuracy –> ROI” and “EU FMD: Aggregation Is Not Mandated, But It Will Be Necessary“).   In this instance, “aggregation data” is data that documents the serialized packaging containment hierarchy of drug products—also known as “parent-child relationships”.  It is well established that companies are not required by law to capture it, but for the smooth operation of pharma supply chains under a serialization, tracing and/or verification regulation, high quality aggregation data will be necessary.  But there are warning signs that a significant percentage of drug manufacturers are not going to meet that bar by the deadlines. Continue reading Aggregation: The Achilles’ Heel of Pharma Supply Chain Operation Under A Serialization Regulation →

HDA

HDA’s 2017 Manufacturer Serialization Readiness Survey Results

There is a reason so many RxTrace essays have something to do with the Healthcare Distribution Alliance (HDA) (I won’t list them all, but here are two recent ones:  “HDA Traceability Seminar: RxTrace Future Topic List Explodes” and “HDA Schools FDA On DSCSA”).  It’s because they have their fingers in just about everything related to the US pharma supply chain’s preparation for compliance with the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).  HDA members are literally in the “center” of the supply chain, and the organization is at the center of many of the most important initiatives related to meeting the DSCSA, including their Origin master data sharing service (see “Dawn of HDA’s Origin, The Key to DSCSA Compliance”), their future Verification Router Service (VRS) (see “First Meeting of the HDA Verification Router Service Task Force”), and they hold the most important DSCSA conference every year (see “FDA Speaks About DSCSA At HDA”).  And their HDA Research Foundation now conducts the most important manufacturer DSCSA serialization readiness survey.  They just published the latest one.  Let’s take a look at it. Continue reading HDA’s 2017 Manufacturer Serialization Readiness Survey Results →

ANVISA

Brazil Publishes RDC-157 To Regulate 2017 3-Lot Pilot

ANVISA logoOn May 11, 2017, ANVISA formally published RDC-157/2017 that will serve as the regulations for their 3-Lot Pilot that is to take place in 2017.  We’ve been expecting this new RDC around this time because they were required by the recent Law Number 13.410 of December 28, 2016 (see “Brazil Gets Rational With Their New Pharma Traceability Law”).  ANVISA also held a “public consultation” to allow the public to review and comment on an earlier draft of what is now RDC-157/2016 (see “ANVISA Reveals Draft Serialization Regulation and Asks For Comments”).  The newly adopted RDC-157 is clearly intended to guide the pilot and then ANVISA intends to update it as part of their analysis of the pilot results.  They will likely go through another public consultation before they make it a final regulation that all companies will need to follow.  Bottom line, if you are not part of the 3-Lot Pilot, don’t start implementing a solution until Continue reading Brazil Publishes RDC-157 To Regulate 2017 3-Lot Pilot →

Russia, serialization

The Russia Serialization Pilot Guideline

The Russia Ministry of Health (MoH) is conducting a serialization and tracing pilot with a number of supply chain members between February 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017 (see “Russia Begins Its Pharma Supply Chain Pilot”).  The MoH is due to publish an assessment of the pilot by next February 1st. 

Two weeks ago the Russian Minister of Health, Veroníka Skvortsova, signed the guidelines document for the pilot.  The 42-page document appears to be written as a pilot setup document, as opposed to Continue reading The Russia Serialization Pilot Guideline →

ANVISA

ANVISA Reveals Draft Serialization Regulation and Asks For Comments

Last week, the National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance (ANVISA), the healthcare regulator in Brazil, published a draft of their proposed pharma serialization regulations aimed at meeting the requirements of the new law number 13.410 of December 28, 2016 (see “Brazil Gets Rational With Their New Pharma Traceability Law”).  The purpose of this new publication is to solicit comments from interested parties.  It is called “Public Consultation No. 311 of February 15, 2017”.  This is not a final regulation—the public consultation ends on March 17, 2017, after which changes to the text, based on the feedback collected, are likely before it becomes final—but it provides us with a solid view of ANVISA’s thinking, and that amounts to a big win for the industry, and for Brazil.  Now is the time to read it over and submit your comments to help make it even better. Continue reading ANVISA Reveals Draft Serialization Regulation and Asks For Comments →