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Serialization Trends: 6 Mixed Emotions

From hospital traceability and blockchain use cases to Europe’s FMD readiness, speakers at the Adents Serialization Innovation Summit offered perspective on what’s happening now and what to “look forward” to.

Though we’re fewer than six months away from the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) enforcement date in November 2018, companies still fall into an array of buckets in terms of readiness. Some are prepared and even have aggregation capabilities, some are working out efficiency, connectivity or training issues in their packaging lines or level 4 systems. Others are perhaps a bit later to the party.  

Unsurprisingly, last week’s Serialization Innovation Summit hosted by Adents in Philadelphia brought a range of responses from attendees in terms of readiness and familiarity with concepts and new technologies. 

The following is a breakdown of the trends from the summit based on what they brought to mind:

Hopeful

Blockchain… it’s everywhere. The much-hyped technology will not solve any problems on its own but offers promise for the pharma supply chain in its ability to store and share one ledger of transactions with all partners. Tianna Umann, Cross Domain Solution Architect at Microsoft, explained that there are multiple types of blockchain (and trust levels), and that the kinds that benefit enterprise are private or consortium, as opposed to public.

Smart contracts are essentially the programmed version of the terms of the real-world contract. They provide the ability to integrate the business processes into the blockchain. 

Umann offered an example that a smart contract was created for 1000 units of medication A. That shipment moves through the supply chain, with each carrier scanning the datamatrix to ensure all 1000 units are transferred. Each step is logged along with additional variables such as temperature and humidity. When the retail store only receives 900 units, the transaction is flagged and trading partners are alerted that the smart contract for 1000 units has been violated, causing the carrier immediately upstream to incur a penalty.

David Aguero, Manager Systems and Informatics, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital pointed out that the DSCSA regulations don’t mandate a centralized ledger—it may ultimately be businesses needs that drive the adoption of the technology.

Concerned

What is going to happen in Europe with the Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) in February 2019???

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LAST CHANCE TO SAVE! New Tech for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast