Failures of data flow, and omission of data standards, can kill. That's part of the message Dr. Kennard D. Brown takes to the pharmaceutical world. People in at least seven states died after being given drugs which contained a mold. The integrity of the supply chain had been compromised.
Now, wherever you have a supply chain, you have an information flow. Without data standards, you can't have proper tracking. Brown believes the Drug Supply Chain Security Act of 2013 isn't good enough, because it gives the industry 10 years to get its act together. He says: “Industry practice will lead... If you wait for the governmental entities to take the lead, as a practical matter, it’s not going to happen.”
I'd add a couple of points. One is that consumers and prescribers need to agitate for pharma supply chain data standards. The second point is the standards need to be international from the get-go. This is yet more evidence that standards aren't just good for business. Increasingly, standards are the business. The more reliant you are on data flow, the more you need data standards. Daily News
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