SupplyScape offers consulting services for global serialization and collaboration.SupplyScape, which sells supply chain solutions for the
pharmaceutical industry, is offering an expanded set of strategic
consulting services.
Robin Koh, chief strategy officer of SupplyScape, said the new
services, which rolled out May 28, will help pharmacy manufacturers and
retailers deal with increasingly complex and globalized supply chain
issues.
“Pharmaceutical companies are grappling with different serialization
requirements coming in,” Koh said. “They are trying to figure out how
to harmonize their methodologies. A lot of branded pharmaceutical
manufacturers are global, where wholesalers and retailers tend to be
more U.S.-focused. That drives different requirements within
serialization, such as how a serial number is used.”
Koh said that in the United States, many companies assume they can
assign their own serial numbers to pharmaceutical products, while in
some European countries the government assigns serial numbers.
“We want to ensure those numbers don’t collide,” he said. “We don’t
want to reach the point where certain pharmacy chains won’t recognize
certain serial numbers.”
Once a company enacts a coherent serialization strategy, Koh said it
also still must obtain an understanding of the ramifications of serial
numbers within barcoding and RFID systems.
“You must know the impact on certain business processes, such as
reconciliation,” he said. “You must know not just that you have 20
bottles on your shelf, but which 20 bottles.”
By coupling business process alignment services with the SupplyScape
e-Pedigree supply chain security solution, Koh said companies can
automatically track when certain drug bottles will expire, a process
that is usually performed manually.
Koh said SupplyScape’s supply chain collaboration services can help
companies effectively perform pharmaceutical tracking and tracing.
“By definition, these processes are supply chain-wide and not just
deployed within the four walls of anyone,” he said. “A company must
understand the issues of interoperability so they are able to function
on a supply chain-wide basis.”
Koh said the ultimate goal of SupplyScape’s strategic consulting
services is to ensure that consumers are protected from counterfeit
drugs.
“We’re in the next phase,” he said. “It’s not, ‘Should I be doing this,’ but, ‘How should I be doing this?’”
Paul Rudolf, former senior policy analyst for medical affairs for
the Food and Drug Administration, said SupplyScape customers can obtain
increased business value by investing in mass serialization, RFID and
supply chain security.
“Today's pharmaceutical and healthcare networks are intricate and
complicated, but forces are coming together for the pharmaceutical
industry to realize the vision outlined in the FDA's Combating
Counterfeit Drugs report,” Rudolf said.
Dan Berthiaume covers the retail space for eWEEK. For more industry news, check out eWEEK.com’s Retail Site.
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