The Healthcare Distribution Alliance (HDA) assembled various pharmaceutical supply chain industry leaders at its Traceability Seminar, last month in Washington, D.C.
The 2018 seminar focused on the upcoming Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) implementation milestones as well as innovative approaches and lessons learned as distributors, manufacturers and dispensers implement serialization and traceability technologies to further preserve the safety and security of the healthcare supply chain.
The seminar educated the attendees with what to expect in the future as the industry approaches the final deadline and shared the available resources, tools and guidance on a range of traceability topics.
“For more than 15 years — from the advocacy stage through today — HDA has been a trusted partner for pharmaceutical traceability education,” said HDA Executive Vice President of Industry Relations, Membership and Education, Perry Fri. “Through our expertise, HDA is continuing to provide the pharmaceutical supply chain with opportunities, like the Traceability Seminar, to meet with a diverse group of professionals and DSCSA experts to share ideas, discuss important topics, seek out guidance and work toward common implementation goals.”
Real-time visibility in the supply chain is a strategic area of innovation at rfxcel. Within the seminar, rfxcel highlighted exactly how to overcome challenges and succeed when assessing, selecting, and installing an “extreme visibility” platform over the next few months.
“Our goal is to use this platform to have up-to-the-minute information on global events that could impact our supply chain, and provide this information to groups across the corporation.”
Key Deadlines
Adopting a phased approach, there are two key deadlines for different stakeholders: November 26th 2018 is the widely acknowledged deadline for pharmaceutical manufacturers and repackagers. On November 27th 2019, the DSCSA VRS deadline is enacted. The wholesale industries must be compliant and only accept products that contain a serial number or product identifier, and they must verify this product identifier before they can go on to resell these goods. They must also be able to complete a validatable returns process.
To complete this process in specific regard to returned products that are saleable, the Verification Router Service (VRS) initiative was highlighted by the Healthcare Distribution Alliance (HDA) in its efforts to lead the industry in implementing the act.
Today, various solution providers, including rfxcel are in the process of providing a VRS.
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ABOUT RFXCEL
rfxcel is a supply chain track, and trace company within the Life Sciences industry, helping companies meet regulatory compliance requirements, protect the product and ascertain brand reputation. Thought leadership and experience since 2003, expansions to locations in the US, EU, India, Brazil, and Japan, and a leading stand-alone traceability solution, the company, enables people, businesses, and industries to protect end consumers and their products. This unique integrated software delivers better business outcomes and lowers overall costs.
ABOUT THE HEALTHCARE DISTRIBUTION ALLIANCE
The Healthcare Distribution Alliance (HDA) represents primary pharmaceutical distributors — the vital link between the nation’s pharmaceutical manufacturers and more than 200,000 pharmacies, hospitals, long-term care facilities, clinics and others nationwide. Since 1876, HDA has helped members navigate regulations and innovations to get the right medicines to the right patients at the right time, safely and efficiently. The HDA Research Foundation, HDA’s non-profit charitable foundation, serves the healthcare industry by providing research and education focused on priority healthcare supply chain issues.
