Purdue Pharma exec and Cardinal Health win HDMA distribution awards

At this year’s just-concluded Distribution Management Conference (Orlando, FL, March 8-11), the Healthcare Distribution Management Assn. announced two of its key annual awards: the individual Distribution Management Award for Industry Leadership award, and the business process-innovation Distribution Management Award. Winners are selected by votes of the organization’s Industry Relations Council.

Industry Leadership winner Stephen Seid (now retired) has been executive director of national accounts and trade relations at Purdue Pharma for the past 14 years, culminating a 35-year career at the company. He has been a leader in the company’s efforts in track-and-trace technology adoption, and in working with multiple organizations on the problem of drug diversion. Within HDMA, he has served on the REMS Advisory Committee, and helped support HDMA’s Center for Healthcare Supply Chain Research.

Business innovation winner Cardinal Health was honored for its development of the EZ Cart and EZ Tote, two intermediate-storage solutions that expedite picking and packing for pharmacies. By employing the systems, which help organize multiple-product restocking steps, Cardinal Health is enabling both large and small pharmacies to save time and reduce complexity.

Runners-up to the business innovation award were AmerisourceBergen and Walgreens-Alliance Boots, for their novel, long-term strategic relationship, and H. D. Smith and Legisym (Temple, TX), for a mobile-enabled controlled-substance ordering system (CSOS).