I attended the FDA’s New NDC Format Public Meeting last Monday where I presented my open letter that was last Monday’s RxTrace essay (see “An Open Letter To The FDA: New NDC Format Public Meeting”). After a welcome from Dr. Janet Woodcock, Director, FDA, Center For Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) and a brief overview of the purpose of the meeting by Paul Loebach of FDA CDER, there were nine presentations from stakeholders and the public. After each presentation, the FDA panel Continue reading FDA New NDC Format Public Meeting
Tag Archives: FDA Labeler Code
NDC Nearing Its End, Afflicted by ‘Identifier Failure’
Heart Failure is a human condition that is characterized by several easily identifiable symptoms, including fatigue, difficulty breathing and in its later stages, gurgled breathing. My mother and my mother-in-law both suffered from heart failure during their decline. Analogous to heart failure in humans is a condition of an identifier system that is near the end of its useful life that we can call “identifier failure”. At the end of November, a new FDA final guidance called “Requirements for Foreign and Domestic Establishment Registration and Listing for Human Drugs, Including Drugs That Are Regulated Under a Biologics License Application, and Animal Drugs” went into effect. Buried deep within this 200+ page document is the official announcement that signaled the National Drug Code (NDC) identifier system is now afflicted with this end-stage condition. The NDC won’t last long now, and there is no longer any excuse for inaction. The need for a replacement is now urgent. Continue reading NDC Nearing Its End, Afflicted by ‘Identifier Failure’
FDA Considering A Delay Of A Small Part Of The UDI Rule
For the second time this week, the FDA posted something related to the things I pay the most attention to. Earlier this week it was about the DSCSA. This time it was a draft guidance for comment on a proposed delay in enforcement of a small part of the Unique Device Identification (UDI) final rule. I’ve seen a lot of mentions around the internet about this new FDA posting but none of them really explain it very well (including the FDA). I’d like to take a stab.
Way back in around 1970 the FDA created a numbering system for drugs and one for devices. The one for drugs Continue reading FDA Considering A Delay Of A Small Part Of The UDI Rule
Depicting An NDC Within A GTIN
In recent essays I have covered the “Anatomy of an NDC”, the “Anatomy of a GTIN” and the “Updated HDMA Bar Code Guidance: A Must Read“. Now let’s put them all together. Why would we need to do that? Because the U.S. FDA requires many Over-The-Counter (OTC) and all prescription drugs marketed in the United States to have their National Drug Code (NDC) presented in the form of a linear barcode on the package. Pure and simple. To do that in a way that your trading partners can understand—that is, to do it interoperably—you need to follow a standard. You have two realistic choices for standard approaches to this problem: HIBCC or GS1.
The use of HIBCC standards is fairly common in the U.S. medical surgical devices supply chain but in the pharmaceutical supply chain it is very rare. Most companies choose GS1’s barcode standards so that’s all I’m going to focus on in this essay. If you want more information Continue reading Depicting An NDC Within A GTIN
