Pharmaceutical Products Serialization and Traceability after the Pandemic

Humanity is currently suffering from the most horrible pandemic of the century, caused by a virus called COVID-19. We are even not sure that we will not face another pandemic tomorrow. This pandemic has affected our psychology as well as our physiological health. Our daily life routine for work, domestic activities, social relations, and diet have now become quite different from the way it was used to. On the one hand, the medical world is struggling to deal with this newly introduced deadly virus, and on the other hand, governments are taking new steps on daily basis to minimize the devastation of the pandemic. During this pandemic from almost every corner of the world, numerous reports point to the lack of easy access to healthcare products.
This article will try to explain how to tackle the issue of illegal activities such as black marketing, stockpiling, and counterfeiting using product serialization for Pharmaceutical supply chain operations.
The number of healthcare, hygiene, and cleaning products on our grocery lists has increased during this period as compared to the period before this pandemic. Due to this rapid and aggressive change in consumption habits, it has become extremely difficult to access these products. Likewise, the manufacturers are unable to meet the increasing demand due to bottleneck that occurs at many levels such as raw materials, processes, and packaging.
Therefore the availability of these products in the market has decreased and unfortunately illegal activities such as counterfeiting and black-marketeering have increased. It is not wrong to predict that these activities will reach a dangerous level in circumstances where half of the world is in quarantine.
What is the ultimate solution?
A very simple solution to the problem is that all products that are vulnerable to illegal activity need to undergo serialization for traceability within the market. The serialization process must be started from manufacturing as the traceability is possible from the point of production.
The identification of each product created by a unique serial number is called product serialization. A very simple example is that manufacturers give each N95 mask a unique serial number (UID) which is printed on the product with a data matrix. Traceability is defined as tracking the points of a product at different operational levels across the entire supply chain through an electronic registration system.
How does it work?
Each product produced is assigned a unique serial number by the manufacturer. Then each serial number is registered in an electronic data system with complete product information. When the product is to sell the seller to update the electronic data system and associate the product with the consumer and perform the sale. Serialization can be done directly on the product or the packaging. Every sealable unit has a unique Serial number.
The success of Serialization practice in the pharmaceutical industryr
The pharmaceutical industry is the only industry in the world where the strategies of product serialization and traceability are completely applied. This industry has been struggling with black-marketeering and counterfeiting for years. For the first time in the world, Turkey successfully implemented Pharma serialization and traceability in 2012. Turkey made end-to-end traceability implementations for medicines, vaccines, cigarettes, and plant protection products. This implementation has accelerated the publication of pharma tracking system regulations of all countries in the world. It is estimated that pharma serialization will be more important and beneficial after the current pandemic.
CONCLUSION
To ensure the controlled management of the pharma supply chain in ongoing exceptional circumstances all around the world, countries should implement on a priority basis and establish an effective traceability system. Only this way supply chains can be guaranteed to operate healthfully and overcome the problems caused by illegal activities and could have devastating effects in a period when everyone in the world is struggling for health.