Tag Archives: EDDS

DSCSA

DSCSA: Will 2020 Be FDA’s Year To Leap Forward?

When it comes to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), the FDA seems to alternate between hibernating, and leaping forward.  2017 through mid-2018 was a leap forward period with the publication of 8 draft or final guidance documents and 3 public meetings.  Then in 2019, hibernation.  Yes, FDA’s list of DSCSA guidance and policy documents has two entries for 2019 so far, but one is simply a notice reopening the comment period on the DSCSA Pilots request for information that was originally opened in 2016 and 2017.  The other is the compliance policy that provides one year of enforcement discretion for the 2019 wholesaler saleable returns requirement (see “No Surprise: DSCSA Verification Delay”).  Neither were very taxing on the FDA to prepare.  What should the FDA do next?  What should they be doing right now?

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DSCSA

DSCSA Schedule Assessment, July 2019

It’s time to assess the progress of the industry and the FDA in their quest toward the November 27, 2023 Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) goal known as the Enhanced Drug Distribution (EDDS) phase…otherwise known as just ‘2023’ (see “EDDS: The New Data Exchange Requirements”).  Let’s step back and look at where we have come and where we need to go.

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DSCSA

DSCSA: Historic Change To Commerce

Back in 2010 I posted an RxTrace essay called “California Pedigree Law:  Historic Change To Commerce” that pointed out the significant change that was then scheduled to occur once the California law was to go into full effect in 2016.  Of course, that state law was preempted by the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) back in 2013 so we never actually experience that change.  But what about the DSCSA?  Will it change the way commerce happens in a historic way?  Let’s take a look.

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DSCSA, EDDS, Interoperability, PDSA

PDSA’s Proposal for Governance of DSCSA Phase II Interoperability

Independent, balanced, sector-neutral

Last week, the Pharmaceutical Distribution Security Alliance (PDSA) published two papers aimed at kickstarting the creation of a new non-profit organization that would accept the responsibility for setting up and executing governance over Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) phase II interoperability (see “A Serious DSCSA Governance Organizational Proposal Emerges From PDSA”).  PDSA defines “DSCSA phase II” to be the same as what the DSCSA text calls the “Enhanced Drug Distribution Security” (EDDS) phase (see “EDDS: The New Data Exchange Requirements”).  The EDDS phase (err, Phase II of the DSCSA) starts on November 27, 2023.  In most informal conversations this phase is usually just referred to as “2023”. 

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DSCSA, EDDS

A Serious DSCSA Governance Organizational Proposal Emerges From PDSA

PDSA Members (click image to enlarge)

Two days before the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) was signed by then President Obama, I published “DQSA: The U.S. Pharma Supply Chain Must Organize, Or Risk Failure”.  Under the heading “Who should organize and start the effort [to organize the industry around solutions to the DSCSA]?”, I wrote:

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DSCSA, Interoperability

DSCSA: Interoperable Data Exchange In 2023

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Lots of people have been talking lately about what interoperable data exchange in the US pharma supply chain will look like after the Enhance Drug Distribution Security (EDDS) phase of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) takes effect in November 2023 (see “Does Interoperability Change In 2023?”, “5 Myths About The DSCSA In 2023” and “Interoperability And The DSCSA”). 

Increasingly, I’ve heard the opinion expressed that there will surely be multiple approaches adopted for exchanging data, and so it will be necessary for all of those approaches to be made interoperable with each other.  Proponents of this idea claim it is unrealistic to expect a single approach to be accepted by all companies in the supply chain and therefore, having to deal with multiple approaches is inevitable.  This kind of talk makes me nervous.  Here’s why.

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DSCSA

DSCSA: Why FDA Will Not Mandate Blockchain, EPCIS Or Any Other Specific Technology

There are a lot of discussions going on in the industry right now, over which approach and which technologies the US pharma supply chain should select to meet the 2023 requirements of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).  People are understandably confused over these discussions.  Why should we guess what the FDA will accept in 2023?  Blockchain?  EPCIS?  Aren’t these debates and discussions just a waste of our time?  Why doesn’t the FDA just tell us which technology they will accept for the DSCSA in 2023?  In fact, these questions have become so common lately that I think it is time to examine what is going on.  There are definitive answers to these questions, and they are contained within the DSCSA itself. Continue reading DSCSA: Why FDA Will Not Mandate Blockchain, EPCIS Or Any Other Specific Technology →

Blockchain, DSCSA

An Open Letter To Blockchain Vendors: Please Pay More Attention

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Dear Blockchain Vendors,

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 →