Report Surveyed Hundreds of Manufacturers, Distributors and Dispensers on DSCSA Lot-Level Adoption, Revealing Potential Vulnerabilities in Serialization Readiness

TraceLink Inc., the World’s Largest Track and Trace Network for connecting the life sciences supply chain and eliminating counterfeit prescription drugs from the global marketplace, today announced it will unveil the industry’s first Global Drug Supply, Safety and Traceability Report—a study that examines network insights into the trading habits of the global pharmaceutical supply chain. Results from the inaugural report, which will be presented during a live webinar with president and CEO, Shabbir Dahod, at 10 a.m. EST on December 13, 2016, examine the current adoption of U.S. Drug Supply Chain & Security Act (DSCSA) lot-level regulations among pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesale distributors, hospitals and pharmacies and provide insights on the industry’s preparation to meet the November 2017 DSCSA serialization deadline.

“As the only track and trace solution provider with a network-tenant platform, TraceLink has a unique advantage to see industry trends and supply chain complexities across more than 244,000 trading partners on our Life Sciences Cloud,” said Shabbir Dahod, president and CEO, TraceLink. “This study, which is the first annual report of its kind, sheds light on the current challenges that the industry faced in addressing U.S. lot-level compliance, and highlights how these learnings will likely impact the industry’s ability to meet the DSCSA serialization deadline. While the majority of industry may think it’s ready for serialization, the results disclose critical indicators that will motivate those who may have been delaying serialization implementation decisions to take action now.”

The December 13 webinar titled, “Global Drug Supply, Safety & Traceability Report: Using 2015 Lot-Level Learnings to Understand Future Serialization Challenges,” will reveal survey results from 331 respondents across the pharmaceutical supply chain (30% pharmaceutical and contract manufacturers, 14% wholesale distributors, 45% hospitals and 11% retail pharmacies.)

TraceLink partnered with independent research firm, Actionable Research, to conduct the study, gathering industry insights and experience with DSCSA lot-level implementation, including business trading habits; system modifications and investments made to achieve compliance; overall serialization readiness throughout every segment of the supply chain; and potential vulnerabilities to patient safety. The report discloses key findings on how the industry managed lot-level implementation, revealing a fragmented approach and ambiguity across all segments of the supply chain, including:

• Complex trading habits, uncovering the little-known breadth of supply chain networks; 
• Non-compliance at the lot level by a portion of pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesale distributors; 
• Uncertainty among dispensers around the sustainability of T3 portals offered by wholesale distributors; 
• T3 data still being exchanged in paper format by pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesale distributors; 
• The complexities behind lot-level implementation and total cost of IT upgrades; 
• Overwhelming consensus that serialization will be as (if not more) challenging than lot-level compliance. 

Webinar Details

 The live webinar, “Global Drug Supply, Safety & Traceability Report: Using 2015 Lot-Level Learnings to Understand Future Serialization Challenges,” will be held at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, December 13, 2016, hosted by Shabbir Dahod, president and CEO of TraceLink. An analyst from Actionable Research will also be available during a live Q&A with webinar attendees.

To register for the webinar, use this link. The event will also be recorded and available for on-demand viewing at www.tracelink.com.