Just ten weeks before the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) requires drug manufacturers to begin applying a serialized product identifier in barcode and human readable form to drug packages and homogeneous cases, the FDA has recommended a human readable format that differs from what the majority of manufacturers have already chosen. What’s going on here? What options do manufacturers have? Continue reading FDA’s Late Recommendation On Human Readable
Tag Archives: Human Readable
India Posts New Deadlines (Again) For Serialization Of Drug Exports
Right now we are waiting for major new announcements regarding serialization and tracing requirements in the United States (4 overdue FDA guidance documents), the European Union (final publication of the Delegate Act related to the Falsified Medicines Act), Brazil (major redesign of their regulation), and Russia (first official publication of their regulation). But last week, the India Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) published a new public notice containing details of the “Implementation of the Track and Trace System for Export of Pharmaceuticals and Drug Consignments”. These details are for drugs made in India but exported to other markets. Continue reading India Posts New Deadlines (Again) For Serialization Of Drug Exports
I’ve Changed My Mind, Follow GS1’s HRI Specification
That’s right, I now recommend that you follow GS1’s Human Readable Interpretation (HRI) specification for drug labeling, even when under a serialization regulation. Previously I recommended against it (see “The DSCSA Product Identifier On Drug Packages”, and “The ANVISA Unique Medicine Identifier (IUM) on Drug Packages”). Why have I changed my mind? GS1 modified their specification to accommodate most of the objections I had over it. Let me explain.
The new specification for HRI is in the latest version of Continue reading I’ve Changed My Mind, Follow GS1’s HRI Specification
The DSCSA Product Identifier On Drug Packages
According to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), manufacturers must apply a new “Product Identifier” on all of their prescription drug products by November 27, 2017 (Repackagers by that date in 2018). The DSCSA Product Identifier is defined this way:
“PRODUCT IDENTIFIER.—
The term ‘product identifier’ means a standardized graphic that includes, in both human-readable form and on a machine-readable data carrier that conforms to the standards developed by a widely recognized international standards development organization, the standardized numerical identifier, lot number, and expiration date of the product.” (Section 581[14])
Continue reading The DSCSA Product Identifier On Drug Packages
Pharma Industry Attention Returns to Serialization
Before the passage of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) on November 27, 2013, the pharma industry was focused pretty well on getting the California-mandated serial numbers on 50% of their drug packages by last Thursday (January 1, 2015), and the remainder of their products by next January. But that mandate evaporated by federal preemption as soon as the Federal bill was signed into law. From that moment on, everyone turned their sights toward meeting the data exchange requirements of the DSCSA by last Thursday (see “DQSA: How Should Transaction Data Be Exchanged?”). Of course, just before Christmas, the FDA pushed that effective date out to May 1, 2015 (see “FDA Postpones Enforcement of DSCSA Transaction Data Exchange Until May 1”).
That extension in enforcement is a blessing to a few Continue reading Pharma Industry Attention Returns to Serialization
