Emerging Markets Track and Trace Update: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan
As companies across the pharmaceutical supply chain continue preparing for U.S. DSCSA and EU FMD serialization deadlines—coming November 2017 and February 2019, respectively—regulations continue to progress in the world’s emerging markets. Today, we’ll review what compliance currently means in two countries from our last emerging markets snapshot,
Russia
Full implementation of serialization and compliance reporting seems to be firming up for the end of 2018, with recent discussions strongly hinting that the original interim phases for 7HCN products, etc. will be done away with. This leaves a simple two-phase implementation approach starting with the one-year voluntary pilot phase running throughout 2017.
As mentioned in our previous Russia update, serialization requirements for details such as core data elements and field formats, as well as compliance reporting requirements for submission of traceability information and events to the central Russia repository, are all still in flux. There seems to be
Saudi Arabia
Through the recent December 6th SFDA (Saudi Food and Drug Authority) workshop, and subsequent conversations with SFDA and other officials, new details are emerging about the upcoming serialization deadlines and anticipated government compliance phase.
The existing serialization deadline of March 12,
Aggregation seems now to have been dropped as a formal regulatory requirement. It is still highly expected that aggregation will be a key
Barcoding and serialization requirements continue to track
There are no formal dates yet for traceability and compliance reporting. However, the following information has been circulated and seems to be firming up based on recent SFDA conversations. Note, however, that the SFDA is reserving the right to change any of these criteria before a formal regulation is published:
- There will be a phased implementation by segment: manufacturer, distributor, dispenser.
- The Turkish track and trace model will be followed.
- The event data set is being finalized but should align pretty closely with Turkey's.
- Normal product data elements will be included (GTIN,
lot , expiry date, serial number). - The reporting system will handle both aggregated and non-aggregated drug product.
- Because the SFDA recognizes there will be errors and issues as companies gear up, enforcement discretion is expected.
The potential for leveraging the central traceability system to support future consumer/patient authentication of drug products has also been mentioned as a goal.
Pakistan
While the regulatory bodies in Pakistan haven't made much progress in finalizing a new draft track and trace regulation, industry stakeholders have been pushing forward in discussions. New potential requirements being considered include a potential phased implementation of barcoding, serialization, and reporting, along with a potential industry pilot phase to test certain capabilities. We may hear more on this potential industry-led approach in the coming weeks.