Real world experience with serialization; vendor growth

News continues to percolate as manufacturers, contract packagers and others implement serialization systems, a necessary step to compliance with the looming November 2017 deadline of the US Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA). (Deadlines in other countries are also hitting at this time.)

Acisis, Inc., supplier of “edge” systems used to bring serialization data from the packaging process into the inventory-management processes in warehouses and elsewhere, has released a survey indicating that while the majority of respondents are going forward primarily for compliance purposes (what Acsis calls “compliance now”), 42% are also hoping to gain benefits in recalls and returns management, and 32% from improved brand security. “While immediate compliance may be the initial driver for serialization, it’s clear that it shouldn’t be the only driving force behind a solution choice and deployment,” says John DiPalo, chief strategy officer at Acsis. "Without a longer-term view of compliance mandates and milestones, companies run the risk of adding even more [non-integrated] systems, additional manual processes and rework of current initiatives.”

Acsis, together with one of its clients, AmerisourceBergen, is presenting a free webinar on Feb. 10 on the two organizations’ experiences and perspectives on serialization implementation. (Pharmaceutical Commerce is also a sponsor.)

Meanwhile, TraceLink (North Reading, MA) has announced some impressive results from the past year’s performance, with revenue doubling (again), a 148% increase in customers and a 125% increase in employees. The company has established what it calls the TraceLink Cloud, a network in which manufacturers and trading partners can connect and share serialization data fairly seamlessly; some 680 contract manufacturers, for example, have accounts there. (Actual, paying customers of TraceLink’s serialization management software is a much smaller number; the company says that 15 manufacturers signed on during the past year; these customers can have multiple, multinational locations.) “Our track and trace network is proven to accelerate the ability for any pharmaceutical manufacturer, distributor or dispenser to achieve regulatory compliance with the least cost, time and risk,” says Shabbir Dahoud, CEO, “which is why we’ve been able to grow our network from a few thousand suppliers to more than 200,000 in a little over a year.”

Track-and-trace systems, from TraceLink and others, will be a major focus of the upcoming HDMA Distribution Management Conference, being held in San Antonio on March 6-9. Details are available at the conference website.