Drug companies who serve markets within the European Union (EU) have until February 9, 2019 to add serial numbers within a Data Matrix barcode to their drug packages, among many other specific requirements (see “The ‘Unique Identifier’ in the EU Delegated Act”). The specific requirements are outlined in the EU Delegated Regulation (EUDR). I’ve written a lot about the EUDR over the last few years (see RxTrace: Delegated Regulation). Today I want to highlight and explain a problem that may be brewing in the implementation of the system of repositories as established by the non-profit European Medicines Verification Organization (EMVO). The potential problem is related to the way the EMVO Continue reading Pharma Serial Number Randomization Under The Falsified Medicines Directive
Tag Archives: EMVO
Decommissioning Under the FMD/EUDR
It is a little surprising that the European Union Delegated Regulation (EUDR) uses a form of the word “decommission” 67 times, but not even once uses the opposite term, “commission”. Article 3.2(c) of the EUDR defines the term ‘decommissioning of a unique identifier’ as:
“… the operation changing the active status of a unique identifier stored in the repositories system referred to in Article 31 of this Regulation to a status impeding any further successful verification of the authenticity of that unique identifier;”
It is a striking omission to define how to change the active status of a drug to impede successful verification, but to fail to define the opposite operation that sets the active status to enable successful verification in the first place. Continue reading Decommissioning Under the FMD/EUDR
How Brexit Might Impact The Pharma Supply Chain
A revolution occurred last week. Not by guns—by referendum. Like most revolutions, it caught a lot of people by surprise. The most laughable surprise comes from those who voted for the UK to leave the European Union as a kind of protest vote, but immediately became sorry they voted that way after learning that they had “won”, because they really didn’t mean it! It’s also laughable to hear the cries of the people who didn’t bother to vote because they felt confident that the referendum would go their way. Now they would like to go back in time so they can cast their vote. Whoops, too late.
What these people didn’t realize is that revolutions are serious business, whether executed with guns or with votes. One of the reasons Continue reading How Brexit Might Impact The Pharma Supply Chain
More Concerns With The FMD/EUDR Big Bang Start
The key part of Article 50 of the European Union Delegated Regulation (EUDR) says: “This Regulation…shall apply from 9 February 2019.” That’s the date of the “big bang”—the date everything takes effect. On that date, all drugs entering E.U. markets (except in Italy, Belgium and Greece) must contain the two safety features called out by the regulation on their packaging, including an anti-tamper device and a compliant Unique Identifier (see “The ‘Unique Identifier’ in the EU Delegated Act”). It is the date by which “National Competent Authorities” in each of the EU member states (except the three listed above) must offer a data repository for the covered drug products that are targeted at their local market. And it is the date on which dispensers (called “persons authorised or entitled to supply medicinal products to the public” in the text) must begin using the system of repositories to “…verify the safety features and decommission the unique identifier of any medicinal product bearing the safety features they supply to the public…”. All on the same day. The day of the “big bang”.
This “big bang” start will result in some problems. Continue reading More Concerns With The FMD/EUDR Big Bang Start
RxTrace Preview of 2016
It’s time to think about what is likely to happen in 2016 with regard to pharma serialization and traceability. As part of that, let me remind you right off the top to fill out the 2016 RxTrace U.S. Pharma Traceability Survey, sponsored by Frequentz. You don’t have to be a subscriber to respond and the results will also be open to everyone in the coming months.
So what about 2016? I think Continue reading RxTrace Preview of 2016
