The company said the venture capital funds would accelerate its efforts to develop a universal, electronic drug pedigree system, with radiofrequency identification (RFID) at its core, which will protect against product counterfeiting and diversion.
SupplyScape's president, Shabbir Dahod, said he believed that more states in the US are prepared to follow the lead of Florida, which will require a comprehensive drug pedigree system for pharmaceuticals by July 2006. This move comes despite opposition from drugstores claiming it is too expensive to comply.
And also prompting the adoption of such measures is the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has grown increasingly tough with distributors who fail in their duty to ensure a secure supply chain for drugs. Last year, the agency successfully brought legal action against two distributors, resulting in fines.
"Since 1987, the FDA has been urging the pharmceutical industry to increase patient safety by tightening the supply chain's vulnerability to counterfeits," said Dahod.
He believes that it is now possible to adopt a universal, pan-US model, derived from federal and state laws, that will safeguard the supply chain 'from manufacturer to wholesaler to pharmacy'.
SupplyScape was involved in the pharmaceutical industry's first electronic pedigree pilot - Capgemini's Drug Security Network - which uses a combination of RFID and secure document transmission and authentication over the internet to link four supply chain nodes - the drug manufacturer, repackager, wholesaler and pharmacy - so they can share product information.
- The company also announced that former Bristol-Myers Squibb chief information officer Jack Cooper had joined its board of directors.