European Pharmaceutical Supply Chain of the Future

GS1’s European Healthcare Initiative takes major step towards the standardisation of pharmaceuticals identification including bar coding for Europe

17th March 2004

GS1’s European Healthcare Initiative today launched a major project for the pharmaceutical industry in Europe aimed to improve patient safety and reduce supply chain costs.

The Initiative, the most significant of its kind, is set to transform the pharmaceutical supply chains to hospitals and community pharmacies across Europe, by introducing standard ways of identifying and bar coding pharmaceuticals and medicines of all kinds, based on the EAN.UCC System. The application of RFID and EPC, as an emerging technology, will be tested.

The Initiative will be driven through the formation of a “European Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Working Group” representing all supply chain functions for the industry – from manufacturer through to the patient – at the European level.

It is intended that the Group will work together, under the neutral umbrella of GS1, to define all supply chain processes including manufacturing, distribution, dispensing in community and hospital pharmacies through to patient administration. The resulting framework for the adoption of the EAN.UCC System of identification, bar coding and electronic messaging will meet the needs of all parties to increase the efficiency of the pharmaceutical supply chain and achieve the overall objective to improve patient safety.

Having consulted with representatives of all interested parties and produced an agreed set of standards and guidelines, developed specifically for pharmaceuticals, roll-out will be supported by GS1’s network of Member Organisations in each country. Developing the business case relevant to all players will be an important aspect of the Initiative.

This Initiative will produce significant benefits for all by enabling the changes which are being requested by regulatory authorities and at the same time decreasing the complexity of information sharing and transaction processing.

Jim Bracken, chairman of the European Healthcare Initiative and Director of GS1 Ireland enthused: “We see our Initiative in the European pharmaceutical industry to be highly significant – it is set to transform the way the pharmaceutical supply chain operates, for the benefit of all players, not least the patient. There are increasing market pressures, on all supply chain functions not only for greater supply chain efficiency and cost reduction, but also for clear product identification and batch traceability for improved patient safety. We feel the timing of this Initiative is absolutely right – early indications are that it will be received very positively.”

It is intended that the inaugural meeting of the Working Group will be held in the Spring 2004 with work starting in earnest shortly thereafter.

Jim Bracken summarised: “The automatic capture of data through one common system of bar coding and scanning, together with automatic data transfer between trading partners, all enabled by the EAN.UCC System, will transform the way European pharmaceutical supply chains work. The formation of the Working Group, representing the entire European Pharmaceutical industry, will reflect the business need of the supply chain as a whole to collaborate, to bring product traceability and information transparency to the supply chain as a whole, for the benefit of all parties, especially the patient. “

GS1 (formerly EAN International)
The mission of GS1 and the Membership Organisations, is to take a leading role in establishing a global multi-industry system of identification and communication for products, services and locations based on internationally accepted and business led standards.

The objective is to improve the efficiency of integrated logistics while contributing added value to partners involved, as well as to consumers.

GS1 is a global organisation of over 100 independent national bodies -the Member Organisations - representing 145 countries. They support the needs of nearly one million member companies who conduct more than 5 billion transactions per day in 23 sectors of industry (including healthcare) using the standards.

The European Healthcare Initiative was launched last year by the European member organisations of GS1 to significantly increase the adoption of the EAN.UCC System in the healthcare market across Europe. Primarily concentrating on the supply chains from manufacturer to hospitals and community pharmacies, GS1 is convinced that the wide-spread adoption of its global standards of identification, bar coding and electronic commerce messaging in the healthcare market, can significantly cut supply chain costs, reduce risk to patients and help improve patient care.

Representatives of Western European GS1 Member Organisations are involved in the Initiative, led by a Central Team.

Christian Hay (Switzerland) on +41 76 369 10 54 or email: hay@gs1health.net