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Live From FutureLink 2018: Digital Connectivity and the Supply Chain

FutureLink 2018 focuses on patients at the point of care, identifying how technology and information sharing networks are beginning to transform the digital life sciences supply chain.

During a panel discussion at FutureLink 2018, participants spoke about a need for greater education on serialization responsibilities in an effort to prevent confusion throughout the supply chain.
During a panel discussion at FutureLink 2018, participants spoke about a need for greater education on serialization responsibilities in an effort to prevent confusion throughout the supply chain.

Technology, particularly as it pertains to smartphone applications, is progressing so rapidly that it no longer seems futuristic to imagine patients and physicians communicating digitally to improve health outcomes. What’s still in the works, however, is connecting all levels of the healthcare supply chain in an effort to address everything from medication adherence to serialization compliance/benefits to drug shortages.

Recognizing the Nov. 27 Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) enforcement deadline is just three weeks away, presenters at TraceLink’s FutureLink 2018 Chicago event Nov. 5-7, were turning their attention to ways companies can benefit from serialization investments, as well as and the 2019 DSCSA saleable returns deadlines related to wholesale distributors and pharmacies.

“This has been one more thing to comply with,” noted Lisa Baird, National Director of Pharmacy Operations for Ernest Health, referring to the DSCSA deadlines. Baird participated in a panel presentation, “Pharmaceutical Recalls: Supply Challenges and Opportunities.” She stated, “If there was a way to bring some kind of financial return to this it would be great!”

In his presentation, “Value Creation from Serialized Product Information Across Your Supply Ecosystem,” Biogen’s Global Serialization Project Manager Bjoern Rosner addressed the return on investment issue, saying, “We are nearing the tail end of a wave of compliance implementations.”

He told the audience of 250-plus in Chicago, “Industry has made huge efforts to meet these compliance deadlines but we need to know what we’re getting out of our investment.” As for the next considerations in the process, Rosner suggested the following:

• Determine where the ROI is.

• Corporate leaders are now becoming more aware of serialization, realizing their operations may incur production stoppages and need to make supply chain changes. “It’s not a project that’s over and done with in 2023, but a new way of life.”

• “Digitalization of everything is moving forward. The digital supply chain is here. You have a physical product with a digital number that identifies the pack. Serialization has a role to play in this determination of business value.”

Like many speakers on Nov. 6, Rosner made use of smartphone-generated audience polling. An audience question, “How far have you come in finding business value in serialization data?” revealed that most companies have thought about gaining value from serialization data, but most have not invested much time in it, focusing initially on meeting compliance deadlines.

Global efforts