Ensure Product Security and Patient Safety

Challenges to Protecting Product Security and Patient Safety in the Global Supply Chain

Global pharmaceutical safety incidents, including those of counterfeiting, theft and diversion, reach almost 2,000/year according to the OECD. Thousands of product recalls occur a year across a range of products such as children’s toys, automobile electronics and pharmaceuticals. Reimbursement fraud costs businesses and governments billions (USD) annually, driving up prices. The global supply chain and global consumer are assaulted every day with product security and related financial threats.

Four key challenges exist for companies seeking to ensure product security and patient safety throughout the global supply chain:

1. What is the right set of security mechanisms given the product to be protected and the threats that exist? Serialized product authentication, electronic pedigree, physical package protection or a mix of these?
2. How can I establish a unique identity for products upon initial manufacture? What type of identifier should I use (barcode, RFID tag, etc.) and how should I store the identity to maximize access to it by all channel parties?
3. How can I gain visibility to where manufactured product is in the channel right now or where has it been before it got to me?
4. How can I speed the reaction time of my company and my channel partners to identify and contain the scope of an adverse product event?

While you want to eliminate counterfeiting, diversion, theft and other product security threats from existing at all, sometimes just building high enough barriers so that black and gray market individuals go elsewhere is good enough. How a company instruments itself on the four above areas will determine how much of a target your firm and your products are.

How TraceLink can help Manufacturers and Channel Partners Protect Product Security

• Ensure authentic product throughout the channel. Provide a service to all supply chain partners verifying the authenticity of product in their possession or being sold to them. Ensure a secure chain of custody exists for all products until time of retail sale or pharmacy dispensation. Combine prevention, detection and investigation security mechanisms to build a strong deterrent for counterfeiting, theft and other security threats.
• Reduce geographic and channel diversion. Monitor product movement within geographic markets and channels to ensure product manufactured for a market is sold in that market.
• Speed product recall initiation and closure. Quickly set a “recall” state identity to finished goods product affected by manufacturing defects, material quality problems, consumer issues and other adverse events. Gain immediate visibility to the channel location of recalled product. Speed closure of recall events with precise, up-to-date accounting of product returns.
• Protect brand equity. Improve response and limit liability to manufacturing, channel and consumer adverse events. Reinforce image of being a “trusted brand” through higher levels of public and consumer protection. Provide point-of-sale information on product safety and product usage information.
• Reduce financial fraud. Verify reimbursement claim authenticity (valid product, quantity, price, etc) prior to financial payout for medical claims, promotional programs, chargeback claims, channel returns and other financial programs.

Next steps

• Try It Yourself.  In minutes, launch a no obligation FREE TRIAL of our Predictable Supply Suite. Create your own Process Link collaborative team workspace, invite and quickly connect to virtual team members, then experience a new world of production visibility and tracking across your contract manufacturing operations!
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