A challenge in the pharmaceutical supply chain is accurate and timely verification of serialized saleable customer returns. According to the Healthcare Distribution Alliance (HDA) member survey, saleable pharmaceutical returns comprise 2 to 3 percent — or nearly 60 million units — of total sales annually. HDA and industry leaders are working on solutions to reduce these losses and help manufacturers and distributors to fully comply with DSCSA requirements.
Currently, HDA and industry experts are testing the verification process of returned products that are saleable. rfxcel is an active member of the “Work Group” formed by HDA to develop an integrated solution such as a Verification Router Service (VRS) Provider. The Verification Router Service community is comprised of Requestors, Responders, VRS Providers, and a Governance Body. rfxcel is piloting its VRS in 2018 in order for wholesaler distributors to meet DSCSA requirements by November 27, 2019.
The proposed saleable returns process is as follows:
- A wholesale distributor (Requestor) captures the product identifier information and passes the data to a qualified routing service (VRS), which references the associated GTIN or GCP to automatically query the appropriate Manufacturer’s (Responder) database and return a response in real-time.
- The Requestor is responsible for passing the appropriate product identifier data elements to the VRS.
- The VRS is responsible for maintaining and looking-up the appropriate repository information of the Responder and submitting appropriately formatted request message to the repository.
- The Responders are responsible for providing repository connectivity information to the VRS and providing appropriate responses to the verification requests by matching the product identifier received from the Requester with the product identifier in their repositories.
In this scenario, rfxcel is providing the tools manufacturers and distributors need to work together. Only through collaboration they will meet DSCSA compliance in 2019 and 2023. It is crucial for solution providers to have a flexible system that enables them to work closely with customers and their partners to meet compliance deadlines. Within the track and trace pharmaceutical industry, it is important to remember that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all-situation’ to meet DSCSA or other global compliance deadlines and requirements. Each company that rfxcel works with is different. rfxcel works closely with manufacturers, and wholesalers distributors to determine their needs and build a product that is best for their customers.
As the pioneer and leader in track and trace solutions for the Life Sciences industry, rfxcel has developed a highly scalable platform for supply chain visibility, anti-counterfeiting and compliance. rfxcel takes measures to give manufacturers and distributors a flexible solution for an efficient and secure supply chain as the industry continues to work toward full unit-level serialization (2023).
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