The implementation of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) serialisation and Unique Device Identification (UDI) System final rule indicates a progressive step towards a more robust system. With these mechanisms,the FDA requires identifying and tracking medication and medical devices from the point of manufacture.
The DSCSA officially became effective on 27 November, 2023. “This implementation enables the journey towards addressing drug shortages by augmenting other data and technologies of track-and-trace,” Patnala added.
Following the Act’s implementation, the US FDA announced a one-year stabilisation period, not as an extension but as a strategic pause. “This period, extending until November 2024, is designed to provide essential time for industry stakeholders to fine-tune, fully implement, and enhance their technical and operational systems to comply with the latest regulations,” states Patnala.
“Since its enactment a decade ago, the DSCSA has progressively mandated a data-driven approach to traceability within the pharmaceutical sector,” Patnala says. The act aims to fortify the drug supply chain against counterfeit, stolen, contaminated, or harmful drugs and ensure patient safety.
“As we enter this critical phase, pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies face the intricate challenge of ensuring that every prescription drug can be meticulously tracked, traced, and verified at the individual unit level, marking the most demanding compliance phase yet,” emphasises Patnala.
The regulatory push uniquely equips participants to use intelligence derived from data to make critical business decisions, says Patnala. For the first time, pharmaceutical companies can use unit and lot-level serialisation systems to meet DSCSA mandates, understand their manufacturing and packaging facilities’ relative productivity and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and take corrective actions, he notes.