Comments on Drug Channels: Pharmacists Haggle over Pedigree Costs

here's something that I don't get: who owns all o...

2008-05-20T15:07:00.000-04:00

here's something that I don't get: who owns all of this data? That's where the money is. I'm guessing that pharmacists want to keep the data from scanning a pedigree and get paid for it. Anyone know what CA was planning about data from the pharmacy?

It will be interesting to see where manufacturers ...

2008-05-20T15:00:00.000-04:00

It will be interesting to see where manufacturers fall out HR 5839. The bill does a nice job of remembering who pays the lobbyist's bill. Manufacturers are removed from the ePedigree process and likely, the liability associated with ePedigree. California, of course, made no such concession.

However, when you break down the State requirements, there really aren't 40 different standards. Generally, there are four models which is a managable number.

The bigger question is WHO has the capability to police the data. The FDA seems an unlikely, and unwilling, participant. So, if the Feds can't do the final follow-through, the States should be allowed to protect their citizens.

Until HR 5839 is resolved, nothing will get done. Everyone is waiting to see what Washington will do.

I wanted to write saying that I appreciated the co...

2008-05-20T12:14:00.000-04:00

I wanted to write saying that I appreciated the coverage and analysis you’re providing with respect to ePedigree / Serialization in California as well as the pending federal legislation.

In terms of ease of implementation as well as mitigation of risk, I don’t believe that there is any question that one set of standards and processes is better than 34. Much of the media coverage and legislative pressure has been on manufacturers and their efforts to comply, specifically with California’s law, however because of the way ePedigree works, entities closer to the dispensing pharmacy in the supply chain actually have more information. Because of this, they potentially will receive more attention from enforcement once this is completely implemented. From the manufacturing perspective, the entire process is a far-reaching one – needing integration to many parts of an IT and process infrastructure – as well as a costly one to serialize and manage.