Survey Finds U.S. Biopharma Industry Is Moving Steadily Toward Secure Distribution

MANHASSET, N.Y. & PALO ALTO, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Pharmaceutical Commerce and Blue Vector Systems today announced survey results reporting the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry's progress in adopting serialization and addressing related supply chain challenges. Conducted online by Pharmaceutical Commerce, the Blue Vector-sponsored survey revealed that, despite the delay in California's drug pedigree legislation taking effect, the majority of respondents reported that significant planning and investment in capital projects is continuing to move forward.

Following the issuance of recommendations for securing the pharmaceutical supply chain against counterfeiting by the FDA Counterfeit Drug Task Force in 2004, biopharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesaler-distributors, retail and hospital pharmacies, as well as related service providers, have continued to discuss, debate, and even test proposed methods and technologies to ensure supply chain security, from manufacturer to patient. Despite regulatory and technical snarls—the majority of survey respondents continue to view serialization as a priority in the years ahead.

"One of the biggest problems of establishing these security systems is that they require the participation of different industries, which often have different priorities," said Nick Basta, editor in chief at Pharmaceutical Commerce. "This level of engagement is encouraging and is occurring in the face of the State of California's decision to delay their ‘e-pedigree' regulations for several years."

"The industry is experimenting with a number of technologies and process changes to accommodate serialization," added Mike Gardner, Blue Vector president and CEO. "At the heart of all this activity is the strong belief that serialization brings business value to organizations—from consumer safety to brand protection to detecting and eliminating counterfeiting and diversion—irrespective of legislative mandates."

Highlights from the survey results:

On the key question, "My organization's status for implementing item-level serialization," 67% of manufacturer respondents—represented by the first three categories below—reported that they are currently moving forward with their serialization efforts:

• 12%: Currently serializing at least one product in commercial distribution
• 12%: Conducting a production-scale pilot
• 43%: Planning to initiate a pilot in the next 12 months
• 14%: No plans
• 19%: I don't know/other

On the question, "My perception of item-level serialization in my organization", 81% responded that the technology is either an "important compliance objective" or "an opportunity to derive business value beyond compliance" or both; 10% responded that it was just a business cost requiring quick and inexpensive compliance while 9% reported they either did not know or had no opinion. When asked to identify the number one business benefit of adopting serialization, the top answer given was "to enhance our reputation with customers and the public," followed closely by "detecting counterfeiting," "greater inventory visibility," and "improving our returns process."

In soliciting survey responses, Pharmaceutical Commerce and Blue Vector offered to make a contribution to the American Red Cross for each completed survey. Detailed results of the survey can be viewed at www.PharmaceuticalCommerce.com or www.BlueVector.com.

About Pharmaceutical Commerce
Founded in 2005, Pharmaceutical Commerce focuses on business, technical and regulatory issues affecting the distribution, marketing and sales of pharmaceuticals in North America. Nine times a year, its 16,000 subscribers receive in-depth reporting and analysis of commercial operations, supply chain and distribution practices, channel management, sales/marketing practices and regulatory and IT enabling services in biopharma. Visit www.PharmaceuticalCommerce.com.

About Blue Vector
Blue Vector is the trusted choice of industry leaders who are revolutionizing their operations by extending the reach of their current business processes to the edge of their operations. An offshoot of groundbreaking research into highly distributed military sensor networks, Blue Vector's technology puts RFID, barcode, temperature, GPS and motion sensors to work for leading businesses who need to control remote inventory, improve their shipping accuracy, monitor the movement of assets, or track the progress of individual items throughout their supply chain. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. For more information, please visit www.bluevector.com.

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