It was good to see all of you at last week’s Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) and Blockchain proof of concepts pilots review held by the Center For Supply Chain Studies (C4SCS) in Rockville, MD. I hope your travel home was uneventful. Let me say right at the top, I was in the audience representing Systech International. My co-worker, Joe Lipari partnered with Dwight deVere of RxTransparent as the Green Team. RxTrace is independent of Systech International. That said, as the author of RxTrace, I have some helpful advice for you. Continue reading An Open Letter To Blockchain Vendors: Please Pay More Attention→
The Enhanced Drug Distribution Security (EDDS) phase of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) is due to begin on November 27, 2023. That’s the first day that the US pharma supply chain is supposed to fully operate with serial numbers. Yes, serial numbers in human readable and encoded into 2D barcodes will be on every drug packaged after November of this year, but there is only limited use of those serial numbers in the supply chain until 2023. But when the EDDS starts, everything changes. From that point on, every Transaction Information (TI) document must include the full DSCSA Unique Identifiers—including the serial numbers for the first time—that are physically included in the shipment, the Transaction History (TH) no longer needs to be exchanged, and the data exchange requirements change. Let’s focus in on those data exchange changes. Continue reading EDDS: The New Data Exchange Requirements→
Last week I wrote about the recent FDA DSCSA Public Meeting where the FDA asked for reports on the progress of the industry toward meeting the November 27, 2017 serialization requirements contained in the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) (see “FDA Forfeits Opportunity To Guide Industry”). In that essay I expressed a view that the FDA has squandered too much of the time necessary for the industry to meet whatever guidance they might offer about grandfathering and exceptions for products that are too small to accommodate a DSCSA product identifier. These guidance documents are now 11 months late.
I was on the HDMA’s website last week doing some research for one of my clients, and I found that the HDMA has updated their highly regarded Q&A document that provides answers to questions related to the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA). I have reviewed this document before in its previous incarnation and view it as one of the best resources out there for all supply chain participants (see “InBrief: HDMA Updates DSCSA Q&A“). Each time they update it they Continue reading HDMA Updates Q&A For DSCSA→
As expected, the FDA has published the draft guidance on standards for paper and electronic data exchange that was mandated by the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA). And the guidance is early–by one day–fulfilling the intent of the FDA as expressed in the DSCSA Data Exchange workshop held last spring (see “The 2014 FDA DSCSA Workshop“).
…a comprehensive exploration of the intersection between healthcare supply chains, track and trace technology, standards and global regulatory compliance
DISCLAIMER: RxTrace contains some of the personal thoughts, ideas and opinions of Dirk Rodgers. The material contained in RxTrace is not legal advice. Dirk Rodgers is not a lawyer. The reader must make their own decisions about the accuracy of the opinions expressed in RxTrace. Readers are encouraged to consult their own legal counsel and trading partners before taking any actions based on information found in RxTrace. RxTrace is not a vehicle for communicating the positions of any company, organization or individual other than Dirk Rodgers.
Dear Blockchain Vendors,
Dear Blockchain Vendors,
The Enhanced Drug Distribution Security (EDDS) phase of the 
Last week I wrote about the recent FDA DSCSA Public Meeting where the FDA asked for reports on the progress of the industry toward meeting the November 27, 2017 serialization requirements contained in 
Part 1
Back in October the FDA announced the extended use of enforcement discretion to temporarily set aside the data exchange provisions of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) for dispensers until March 1, 2016 (see “
I was on the HDMA’s website last week doing some research for one of my clients, and I found that the HDMA has updated their highly regarded Q&A document that provides answers to questions related to the U.S. 
