GS1 unveils innovative track and trace scheme

27-02-2006

by Maxim Kelly

A world-first application of track and trace technology to solve a patient safety issue in Ireland may herald a new era for global supply chain management.

Supply chain solutions company GS1 Ireland unveiled a new bar-coding system on Monday. The integrated electronic barcode system means clinicians and individual patients can track their drugs from point of origin right up to when they were prescribed and administered.

Since August 2005, GS1 and the National Centre for Hereditary Coagulation Disorders in Ireland (NCHCD) have run a pilot programme involving haemophilia patients in St James' Hospital, Dublin. The scheme is now ready to be rolled-out nationally.

With this particular project the EPC number is embedded in a Data Matrix code rather than a RFID tag. The electronic bar coding technology traces temperature-sensitive Clotting Factor Concentrates (CFCs) used to treat patients with blood disorders. The integrated EPC technology assigns a unique number to each individual unit that rolls off a manufacturing line, allowing every party in the supply chain to monitor products at the individual item of use level.

The use of unique serial numbering and bar coding on each vial box to enable automatic electronic data collection and processing will result in safer patient treatment and 100 percent traceability and accountability of every drug and patient involved in this treatment process, according to NCHCD and GS1.

The Data Matrix strip used by GS1 is the size of a fingernail and can still be read by manual scanners when it is up to 40 percent damaged. GS1 Ireland director Jim Bracken told ElectricNews.Net that this generic technology is cheaper than much of the proprietary RFID tag solutions and should become a global supply chain standard.

"RFID will ultimately be combined with Data Matrix strips and the attraction for companies is very strong because you can add other applications beyond track and trace, such as temperature control," said Bracken.

GS1 announced its next pilot scheme will be to introduce a handheld web-based device, which can be used by individual patients to scan the bar code on drugs when self-administrating a product. This will automatically update the patient's records at the hospital and prevent any manual errors in recording data.

NCHCD director Dr Barry White originally saw the necessity for a track and trace system in response to the 2002 Lindsay Report, which highlighted the infection of hundreds of Irish haemophiliacs with HIV and Hepatitis C after they received contaminated blood products.

"The contamination of blood products was one of the most catastrophic medical complications of the last century and some infections were due to defects in the supply chain. There were considerable difficulties in identifying who had received the infected CFCs and in recalling all the contaminated products," said Dr White.

Bracken said the results of the NCHCD project were being studied by an expert group including the EU Commission, the FDA, World Federation of Haemophilia, and other stakeholders. Bracken said the group was assessing the programme in Ireland in order to validate its worldwide adoption. Vaccinations and diabetes treatments are likely candidates.

Other business partners involved in the St James' project included: IT systems integrator, Domino Integrated Solutions Group; EPC network provider, Verisign; Belgian CFC manufacturers Baxter BioScience; software companies, Melior Solutions and Advent Software; specialist cold chain logistics suppliers, Temperature Controlled Pharmaceuticals Ltd (TCP).