Track & Trace

Adents, a leading provider of premier, versatile serialization and track & trace solutions, is launching an online demonstration tool showcasing Adents Prodigi, a Cloud traceability solution that centrally manages pharmaceutical serialization regulatory requirements across a comprehensive set of production and supply chain scenarios. The new, free tool can be accessed by current and prospective Adents customers at www.adents-prodigi.com

In the European Union, serialisation of pharmaceutical products will be mandatory beginning February, 2019. Unique product identification (UPID) has been required in the United States since November 2017 (even if the FDA does not intend to take action against non-compliant drug manufacturers until November 2018). The time to get serialisation-ready is running out for manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and CMOs alike.

Track, Trace and serialization implementation to meet the 2017 DSCSA requirements has reached beyond the four walls of a single site. From manufacturing to dispensation, desperate trading partners and other stakeholders have an immediate need to share information at any level of the pharmaceutical supply chain. The core principles of an enterprise-level or Level 4 serialization system make it uniquely positioned to deliver serialization data sharing capabilities up, down, and across the supply chain.

Lonza has joined contractors predicting high demand for services that comply with track and trace rules due to be introduced in the EU and US.

A Scanbuy QR Code placed on a product package can link consumers to the respective SmartLabel landing page via a simple scan. When the same code is scanned for a business operation, companies gain full distribution visibility and information about all stages of the product lifecycle through the Kezzler platform. The companies say the technology offers a range of help for retailers, including: shelf-life management, anti- counterfeiting and authentication, distribution visibility, and recall management.

X’track Master : a complete, flexible solution that can be integrated into the entire production line, making it possible to generate secure codes during production, sent directly to your online printing system to mark your products at their manufacturing throughput rate. The solution is combined with a powerful Track & Trace platform, and also incorporates an aggregation module (product-box-pallet combination), a reject management module, as well as an industrial mobile reader to monitor finished products in the Supply Chain. The solution includes a Web and mobile platform for the consumer to query the codes.

Blockchain is beginning to make itself known in a wide-range of industries. Executives in companies ranging from healthcare to property management are exploring how distributed ledgers can be applied to their industries.
One area in which the ability to record data in a tamper-proof and transparent way could be particularly beneficial is the sprawling and complex pharmaceutical supply chain that encompasses the development, manufacture and distribution of drugs that are used by hospitals, healthcare centres and sold over-the-counter to consumers.

It’s hard to imagine logistics without track and trace technology. Before shipment tracking, freight shipments were recorded by hand with a pen, and much of what happened on a parcel’s journey from vendor to customer was unknown. Today, advanced logistics technology has brightened the path and track and trace technology has created faster and more efficient freight solutions for countless companies.

Counterfeit medicines have taken a huge toll, both in terms of human costs as well as financially. Interpol estimates that 1 million deaths each year can be linked to counterfeits. According to PwC, counterfeit pharmaceuticals are a $200 billion-plus annual business.

Although there are many potential applications for health care blockchains, we worry that the heavy jargon and media hype has caused a lot of confusion about how and when to use this technology.

All pharmaceutical products sold in Malaysia must be registered with the Drug Control Authority, assigned a unique registration number and labelled with the Meditag security label, which is solely produced by Mediharta Sdn Bhd.
But how do you ensure that the security label you see is authentic?
While previously, pharmacies had a Meditag hologram decoder for this purpose, now smartphone users can check the authenticity of their medicines directly themselves via the Meditag Checker app.

The DSCSA will enable the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to track-and-trace drug products to the individual unit of sale. As per the FDA “DSCSA, outlines steps to build an electronic, interoperable system to identify and trace certain prescription drugs as they are distributed in the United States. This will enhance FDA’s ability to help protect consumers from exposure to drugs that may be counterfeit, stolen, contaminated, or otherwise harmful. The system will also improve detection and removal of potentially dangerous drugs from the drug supply chain to protect U.S. consumers.”

“What new business models does blockchain give us that didn’t previously exist? Critical infrastructure will be replaced by blockchain in healthcare, financial services, retail etc. The ability to exchange trust at a micro level within a peer-to-peer community – that’s where you can build new business models that weren’t possible before.”

Whether you are a supply chain person or are in charge of managing assets (such as medical or construction equipment) for your firm, you are likely looking to get better control over your goods or assets through the use of a GPS or RFID based visibility solution. A Google search in this direction may yield you results of companies calling their solutions as “Tracking”, “Track n Trace”, “Real-Time Tracking” or “Monitoring” among the many describers used.

SophiaTX, the first open-source platform to integrate blockchain with SAP and other Enterprise systems, has announced its intention to facilitate a holistic ‘track and trace’ solution for the transportation of products and medicines in the pharmaceutical industry. Each of the current top twenty prescription drugs (amounting to 10% of the global market in 2016) is produced by a company using SAP software products within their sourcing, manufacturing, or supply chain processes.