The top players of the pharmaceutical industry met in Brescia to discuss track and trace technology and the new challenges of serialisation.
Antares Vision, the world leader in designing and producing pharmaceutical tracking systems, has in fact hosted the first Antares User Group, an international meeting dedicated to the challenges that serialisation poses for the sector. The event has been held on this past 20 and 21 May in Brescia, welcoming managers from all across Europe and the US. The managers of the main serialisation programmes for the major customers of Antares Vision have been attending, which include the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world. By allowing users to share their experiences and exchange ideas, the Antares User Group can help guide the rapid evolution in pharmaceutical serialisation.
In terms of number of installations and technological level, Antares Vision represents international excellence in pharmaceutical tracking systems. During the roundtable – with an opening keynote speech by CEO Emidio Zorzella – the specialists of the Italian company covered certain fundamental aspects of the track and trace evolution, in terms of regulations and technology. And we went into detail on how, in this context, the Antares software and hardware platform is evolving in line with the changes in the market and the various legislative frameworks.
For the company this has been a chance to not only consolidate its relationship with its international partners, but also to illustrate its new technological developments and services offered before and after installation and start-up: from project management to the validation of installed systems, from help desk operator training to the preventive maintenance schedule.
The objective of serialisation is to further increase patient safety, thanks to the complete traceability of each individual medicine packet and protection against tampering and counterfeiting throughout every phase of packaging and distribution.
The track and trace regulation made its début in Turkey in 2011. In Brazil, where the regulation will be adopted by 2016, this will the first true testing bench, on large scale, for the implementation of pharmaceutical tracking systems, awaiting the entry into force in November 2017 of the second milestone of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) in the US.
The Antares User Group offers the opportunity to outline and understand this rapidly changing scenario, "tracking" future challenges posed by the gradual adoption of the track and trace regulation in various countries around the world.