19cannabisbusinessinsights.comNOVEMBER 2024CXO INSIGHTSThe year 2023 marks a significant change for the pharmaceutical industry, as it implements the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) to bring transparency to the movement of drugs across the country's supply chains. This law requires all systems involved in the pharma supply chain to interoperate and function together seamlessly. The industry has different players, including manufacturers, distributors, dispensers, and 3PLs, each with their own interests, competitions, and marketplaces. However, implementing the law has brought solution providers to the scene, eager to solve the problem of interoperability. Regulators are also keen to obtain much-needed information to protect public health.To protect the public and achieve interoperability, we can learn from the lessons of the Internet's success. The early versions of the internet were concerned about the right mechanisms to transport data - introducing packets as part of the ARPANET project. This was a significant change then when interconnectivity was viewed more like the telephone network, which used circuit switching ­ essentially dedicated connection. The Internet has changed much in the two decades since it came into existence. It was conceived in the era of time-sharing, but has survived into the era of personal computers, client-server and peer-to-peer computing, and the network computer. It was designed before LANs existed, but has accommodated that new network technology. One of the key tenets of the early days of the Internet was that multiple independent networks of arbitrary design could coexist, and interoperability mechanics could not dictate anything. The two winning tenets from those early internet days were: - 1) Be cognizant of the various network designs involved 2) Be focused on what is needed at a minimum to conduct a data connection.In the modern era, it's easy to connect to different networks, and it's essential to name entities in a way that encompasses all identification schemes used by different organizations, using global location numbers, accreditations, and licenses. By Praseed Thapparambil, Chief Digital Officer (CDO), National Association of Boards of PharmacyACHIEVING INTEROPERABILITY IN SUPPLY CHAIN TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTHPraseed Thapparambil
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