Tag Archives: pharmacies

Drug Samples Under Global Serialization and Tracing Regulations

istock-526070305-smallerSome pharma manufacturers make special packages of certain drugs that they give away to certain medical practitioners as a way of promoting the product and introducing the practitioner and their patients to it.  The method of distribution is usually through field sales people employed directly by the drug manufacturer, and the drug samples are delivered by them directly to the practitioner.

What could go wrong with that?  Probably diversion of the product contained within the “free sample” packaging back into the supply chain, but without the “free sample” indicator on the package.  Should these special packages be tracked?  Should they be serialized?  Continue reading Drug Samples Under Global Serialization and Tracing Regulations

Sponsored: The 2016 RxTrace U.S. Pharma Traceability Survey, Sponsored by Frequentz, Final Report

Cover thumbnailThe final report of the 2016 RxTrace U.S. Pharma Traceability Survey, sponsored by Frequentz is now available.  Download the full free report here.  With this year’s survey we attempted to get a glimpse of the progress toward the next deadlines of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) from drug manufacturers, repackagers, wholesale distributors, 3PLs and dispensers.  Each of those different types of respondents were asked a different set of questions that were pertinent to their segment and their regulatory requirements under the DSCSA.

Frequentz.logoTake a close look at the results.  They reveal that Continue reading Sponsored: The 2016 RxTrace U.S. Pharma Traceability Survey, Sponsored by Frequentz, Final Report

Pay No Attention To The Enforcement Delay Unless You Are A Dispenser

iStock_000037865140_smallerAs I reported last Thursday, the FDA published new revised guidance that extends their enforcement delay of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) data exchange requirements for dispensers by an additional 4 months (see “FDA Extends Dispenser Delay in DSCSA Enforcement“).  What does this mean for drug manufacturers, wholesale distributors and repackagers? Continue reading Pay No Attention To The Enforcement Delay Unless You Are A Dispenser

Who Is A DSCSA Dispenser?

???????????????????????????????????When the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) was signed into law last November, it introduced a new term into the supply chain lexicon:  “Dispenser”.  It is unfortunate that the authors chose not to use a more recognizable word—like “pharmacies”, or “hospitals”, or “physicians”—because, if they had, more organizations in the dispensing sector might have taken more notice of the requirements they are facing.  But, of course, they could not do that because they wanted to refer to all of those organizations using a single term.  All of those types of organizations fall into the DSCSA definition of “dispensers” and the use of that word appears to have led to some confusion, and therefore some amount of complacency.

“Dispenser” is one of the terms the DSCSA defines so that the rest of the text does not need to repeat the full list of organizations the authors are referring to (see “Don’t Skip The DQSA Definition of Terms Section”).  Its definition is only applicable Continue reading Who Is A DSCSA Dispenser?