Tag Archives: FDA

California Pedigree

California ePedigree Uncertainty

Pedigree law approaches CaliforniaImportant Notice To Readers of This Essay On November 27, 2013, President Barack Obama signed the Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013 into law. That act has many provisions, but one is to pre-empt all existing and future state serialization and pedigree laws like those that previously existed in California and Florida. Some or all of the information contained in this essay is about some aspect of one or more of those state laws and so that information is now obsolete. It is left here only for historical purposes for those wishing to understand those old laws and the industry’s response to them.A lot of things related to ePedigree in the U.S. supply chain are cooking right now but they seem to be happening a little too slowly, so it will be interesting to see where it all ends up in the next few years.  After developing the Drug Pedigree Messaging Standard (DPMS) in 2006-2007, GS1 is now taking only the initial steps toward adding network-centric ePedigree capabilities to their EPCIS and related standards.  The California Board of Pharmacy says they would like to be able to accept a semi-centralized network centric approach as long as it includes all the stuff listed in their pedigree law.  For nearly 18 months, GS1 U.S. has been “nearing publication” of a draft guideline—six years in the making—that is supposed to help companies who want to use EPCIS to meet the California law.  Congress considered passing a Federal track & trace regulation that would have preempted the California law last year but failed from lack of agreement between the parties.  Some companies are making good progress on meeting the serialization requirement but the number who have the pedigree part figured out are those who have settled on DPMS.  All the while the California pedigree deadlines are rushing toward us like a bus-sized asteroid heading straight toward Earth.  Not surprisingly, the asteroid is moving faster than the efforts to divert or absorb it.

I’ve written about my theory that the date of impact won’t be pushed out again, no matter what happens (for a full explanation of that theory, see “Will The California ePedigree Dates Slip Again?”).

What can be done?  In my view, it’s going to be determined by Continue reading California ePedigree Uncertainty →

FDA

InBrief: FDA Again Says It Plans To Publish Track & Trace Guidance By Year End

FDA Guidance AgendaMany thanks to Alec Gaffney of Regulatory Focus for pointing out that the FDA just published their annual list of draft guidances that they anticipate will be published before the end of 2013.  Of course,  no guarantees come with it.  In fact, they included the anticipation of Track & Trace guidance in last year’s list as well but nothing was published (See “FDA To Publish Track & Trace Standard By Year End“).  That’s why it’s not surprising that it’s on the list again this year.

The FDA list seems to come out earlier each year.  Considering that the Track & Trace guidance was included on last year’s list, perhaps it will be published in the near future.  I’m not holding my breath, but it sure would be an interesting addition to the current situation in California where Continue reading InBrief: FDA Again Says It Plans To Publish Track & Trace Guidance By Year End →

PDMA

How Pedigrees Protect The Drug Supply: The Case Against Cumberland Distribution

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Cumberland DistributionOn January 17, 2013 a federal grand jury indicted three individuals in 28 counts connected with Cumberland Distribution, a pharmaceutical distribution company licensed in Tennessee, on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice.  Notably, some of the evidence used against the alleged co-conspirators are the pedigrees that they allegedly forged in an attempt to make their business look legitimate to their unsuspecting customers.

Now, as the press release about the indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), Middle District of Tennessee points out, “An indictment is merely an accusation and is not evidence of guilt.  All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.”  So let’s just look at the evidence and how the DoJ is using it to build their case against the defendants in this case.  From that we can see what impact pedigrees might have in other cases like this.

The charges are for activities that Continue reading How Pedigrees Protect The Drug Supply: The Case Against Cumberland Distribution →

standards

Can HIBCC Withstand The GS1 Tide In Medical Device Identification?

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I was recently asked to help a small medical device manufacturer switch all of their medical device-related product codes from Health Industry Business Communications Council (HIBCC) Universal Product Numbers (UPN) to GS1 Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN).  Historically, the pharmaceutical supply chain has used GS1 GTINs but the medical device supply chain has predominantly used HIBCC UPNs, so a switch like that seemed to be against the grain.  I asked them, “Why are you abandoning HIBCC codes for GS1 codes?”

The answer was a little startling Continue reading Can HIBCC Withstand The GS1 Tide In Medical Device Identification? →

Congress, Federal Pedigree

More Thoughts On The Congressional Discussion Draft

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You now have less than one week to provide a group of Congresspeople with your thoughts on their latest discussion draft for a bill that would attempt to make our U.S. drug supply chain less susceptible to criminal attacks and errors.  See my two earlier essays, “The Congressional Draft Proposal to Improve Drug Distribution Security” and “Congressional Legislation Development: Mad Libs Edition!” for more specifics.

Perhaps the aggressiveness of the response date is a reflection of how important this piece of proposed legislation is.  That is, if you think it is important, then you will immediately drop whatever it was you were doing and get right to the task of providing a detailed reply so they can make sure the final draft reflects your preferences.  I don’t know what you’ve been up to, but this is my third essay about it.  😉

There are still a few things that I wonder about. Continue reading More Thoughts On The Congressional Discussion Draft →

Congress, Federal Pedigree

Congressional Legislation Development: Mad Libs Edition!

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I’ve now finished studying the latest Congressional Discussion Draft to Improve Drug Distribution Security.  As promised last Thursday, here is my analysis.  Overall I’d say it is a very serious attempt to develop a raw text that everyone can agree on.

But the only reason everyone can agree on it is that there are literally hundreds of multiple-choice options (they call them “policy choices”) built in–kind of like Mad Libs.  Anyone can use a marker to go through and cross out all the choices that they don’t like and they would end up with a bill that their constituency would probably accept.  The problem is Continue reading Congressional Legislation Development: Mad Libs Edition! →

Drug recalls

We Should Be Ashamed Of The U.S. Approach To Pharma Recalls

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Flicker / Akulawolf

That’s right.  We should all be ashamed of the way our supply chain handles drug recalls and we should do something about it.  I will explain, but first, what is a drug recall?

Today, when the manufacturer decides that a recall is necessary—either on their own or through a request by the FDA—they issue a recall for it.  The FDA website is a great resource for learning about what a recall is (see “What is a recall?”, and “FDA 101: Product Recalls – From First Alert to Effectiveness Checks” and their recalls homepage at “Drug Recalls”).

Recalls can be issued for a number of reasons including Continue reading We Should Be Ashamed Of The U.S. Approach To Pharma Recalls →

crimes

InBrief: Pharma Supply Chain Criminals Get Justice

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Two weeks ago, confessed pharma supply chain criminal William Rodriguez of South Florida was sentenced to 10 years of prison time, and then two years of supervised release.  He was also required to hand over $55 million, which represents the proceeds from his crimes.

What was his crime?  He was the person who ran the licensed wholesale drug distribution company formerly in South Carolina, Ocean Pharmed, that bought the Novo Nordisk insulin that was stolen in a cargo theft back in 2009.  In his plea, Rodriguez admitted that all of the drugs that Ocean had sold into the supply chain had been obtained from unlicensed or otherwise illegitimate sources, like the stolen insulin.

This is the story that was so well documented by Katherine Eban in her excellent March 2011 article, “Drug Theft Goes Big” in Fortune Magazine online, and which I discussed in my essay “Lessons from ‘Drug Theft Goes Big’” and further Continue reading InBrief: Pharma Supply Chain Criminals Get Justice →