Another one of the many types of businesses that will need to make changes to their operations in California once the pharmaceutical ePedigree law goes into effect is the third party logistics provider (3PL) business. There are a number of important differences between wholesale distributors and 3PLs, and because there seem to be confusion over the wording of the California law and recent comments made by California Board of Pharmacy officials regarding 3PLs (at least I’m confused), companies should be careful about their implementations. I do not have the answers and this is not legal advice, so please check with the Board and your lawyer to confirm anything you read here, but I will tell you my current thinking on the subject. Continue reading 3PL Operation Under California ePedigree→
The modern pharmaceutical supply chain is an amazing thing. No other supply chain handles the combination of volume, variety, value and complexity, and does it as efficiently and accurately as the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain. And it does it on an overnight order-to-delivery cycle from wholesaler to pharmacy. Wholesalers are the key to the efficient operation of the pharmaceutical supply chain, and that’s why I am personally drawn to that segment.
The heart of the modern drug wholesale business—the thing that makes it live, kicking or screaming—is the modern pharmaceutical distribution center (DC). That magical combination of people, processes, data and automation produces a dance every night across the country where individual drug packages are picked from cases and combined with other individual drug packages to fulfill the orders of pharmacies everywhere. It is musical to watch and understand, and the crescendo occurs around 10:30pm every night local time at every pharma DC. Today’s successful wholesalers have figured out how to deal with this specific complexity by organizing their people, processes, data and automation in a stabilizing way to make it all manageable, repeatable and very efficient, and thus making it possible to carve out a thin but well-earned and reliable profit.
…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 RxTrace. The material contained in RxTrace is not legal advice. The writers of RxTrace are not lawyers. 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 RxTrace.
