In April 2010 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a letter to companies and a wide range of other key stakeholders detailing the agency’s concern over cargo and warehouse thefts of FDA-regulated products.
Prevention of cargo theft is critical and the FDA stated that it will continue to work closely with manufacturers and wholesalers to find better ways to secure the nation’s supply chain, which protects the public health.
But the problems continue. On January 18, 2011 FreightWatch International published its 2010 Annual Report on US Cargo Theft. According to the report, pharmaceutical cargo theft represented 5% of cargo thefts by product type. The average loss per incident was the highest for the pharmaceutical industry, averaging $3.78 million. Two of the three largest losses in 2010 were pharmaceutical and exceeded $10 million. The Lilly pharmaceutical warehouse burglary ranked the highest at $76 million.
The impact of pharmaceutical cargo theft
Pharmaceutical cargo theft is a major problem and it is only getting worse. It is estimated that cargo theft costs shippers and transportation companies up to $30 billion annually.
These enormous costs affect all stakeholders in the pharmaceutical supply chain. In addition to the direct financial impact, cargo theft losses disrupt the reliable and efficient flow of goods from shippers to receivers and impact your brand, bottom line and put the public in unnecessary danger.
What more can be done?
Most experts agree that the best way to keep stolen, diverted, or counterfeit drugs out of the supply chain is to use serialization and/or e-pedigree for each medication as it moves through the system. This in conjunction with other more traditional anti-counterfeit measures such as holograms and tamper evident seals will draw immediate suspicion to drugs of questionable origin.
In a recent PRISYM ID survey, participants were asked to weigh in on questions such as what are the most effective measures against counterfeiting and the impact implementing these measures would have on their organization. Click here to read a summary of the results.
The need for tighter legislative controls to effectively beat counterfeiting is clear and both the FDA and EFPIA are drafting timelines over the next decade for individual drug packages to be traceable, but will this be soon enough for you?
What measures has your organization put in place to prevent counterfeiting? Let us know where you stand.
