Biding time on serialization

No large pharmaceutical companies are ready with everything in place to meet upcoming serialization requirements, and less than half are either planning for or taking any action to prepare to meet requirements. So say respondents to a UPS survey.

The poor showing is likely the result of delays in the widely publicized California pedigree mandate, pushed out to 2015, and the FDA extension of a pedigree standard to 2010. Many anti-counterfeiting budgets were yanked when the mandate timelines were extended.

The survey also found that more than half of large company respondents currently outsource distribution management and 44 percent outsource transportation management. One in four outsources order-taking and customer service.

The largest difference between large and small to mid-size company respondents is their outsourcing plans: 43 percent of large companies expect to increase the amount they outsource in the next two to three years. Conversely, of the more than 60 percent of small to mid-size company respondents who currently report no outsourcing of supply chain functions, a mere 3 percent say they expect to do so in the coming years.

- here's the study