The T&TSolutions platform, which will be unveiled at the upcoming Achema meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, combines data management, coding and reading technologies and materials handling machines to provide manufacturers with a solution that can be adapted to individual company needs.
All the various permutations of the T&T system, which include 2d matrix, barcode and RFID reading capacity, are fully compliant with all the applicable standards and, Seidenader believes, can be easily changed to fit new regulations.
Although combating counterfeit drugs through improved T&T and supply chain security is high on the agendas of governments worldwide, debate still rages about how best to approach the problem. In the US, California 's e-Pedigree laws have been delayed until 2015 while on the other side of the Atlantic some countries the European Union plans to present its list of T&T proposals at the end of the year.
As a result drugmakers are left with the difficult task of making sure their manufacturing operations comply with current rules but are adaptable enough to respond to new laws as and when they are introduced. The increasingly globalised drug industry, where rules vary in different territories, only exacerbates these difficulties.
Terry Crawford, Seidenader’s product manager, said that while organisations like the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and other groups are conducting studies, the drug sector is still unclear as to the likely requirements on traceability and serialisation.
Crawford explained that: “If the EU says that every prescribed drug needs to be serialised and sets a five year time frame, at least pharmaceutical producers would know where they stand.”