E-commerce service provider Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX) is looking for drug manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers willing to test the data exchange system it hopes will become the underpinning of a supply-chain-wide traceability and e-pedigree solution for the pharma industry. Presenters at the recent HDMA Track and Trace Seminar provided reasons to move forward with the project, according to a report in Pharmaceutical Commerce.
GHX's existing e-commerce platform already links some 12,000 healthcare trading partners, noted a speaker from Big 3 distributor McKesson ($MCK). The system works despite varying levels of transaction complexity across supply chain partners, according to the report. A Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) speaker noted the test gives participants a chance to see how GS1 standards could work, providing some insight into upcoming IT needs and changes in business practices.
GHX began testing the system--a GS1-compliant data exchange that will hold supply chain transaction records and make them accessible for verification--with the aid of industry collaborators earlier this year. The project became operational in October 2011 with the transmission, storage and retrieval of actual track/trace data, according to the report. GHX intends the system to be compatible with evolving FDA and industry standards.
GHX's goal now is to stress-test the system by increasing the number of participating supply chain partners, the report said.
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