Serialization & Aggregation
Artesan invests in hard- and software at the Lüchow site and sets the course for successful exports
The entry into force of the Anti-Counterfeiting Directive 2011/62/EU1 and the Delegated Regulation EU No. 2016/161 in 2019 primarily followed one objective: to prevent the introduction of counterfeit medicines into the legal supply chain. According to the World Health Organization, this has been an issue for years, causing health risks to people and economic damage to companies in equal measure.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers and contract manufacturers have therefore been investing for some time now in new technologies in order to remain competitive worldwide and to be able to supply target markets that may have separate country-specific legal requirements for the supply chain of pharmaceutical products. Certain countries like the Russian market require aggregation of supplies and serialization by encoding crypto data in a 2D code.
An extensive technology update during ongoing production recently created all the conditions at Artesan to be able to serialize and aggregate efficiently for Russia and other countries at the Lüchow site.
The principle of aggregation
Aggregation involves the complex process of logically and hierarchically linking a drug and its data at all different packaging levels. This merging according to the so-called grandparent-parent-child principle ensures Artesan customers seamless tracking of all products throughout the entire supply chain.
From blister to pallet, a data record is created according to the grandparent-parent-child principle. Each data record is part of the drug delivery and the subsequent logistics process, which ends at the wholesaler or the stationary pharmacy. Aggregation describes in sum a process in which each participant in a pharmaceutical supply chain takes over the information from the predecessor and additionally supplements it with its own data.
This begins at Artesan in Lüchow, continues through packaging to the logistics provider, on to the wholesaler, and so on. Each data aggregate is stored in a database before being passed on to the next participant in the supply chain and can be retrieved at any time and from anywhere. Artesan thus guarantees every customer comprehensive security for their products throughout the entire supply chain and thus the greatest possible protection against counterfeit medicines.
