Rx-360 supporting global healthcare supply chains

Global pharmaceutical consortium Rx-360 has launched an expansion of its international initiatives, to support the universal healthcare supply chain.

Founded in Philadelphia, USA, in 2009, Rx-360’s goal is to:

• Protect patient safety, by sharing relevant information 
• Develop processes related to the integrity of the healthcare supply chain

Through Rx-360, pharmaceutical companies and suppliers work together to enforce this.

Rx-360 will now offer its members geographically focused groups across Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America, India and Europe.

Supporting global healthcare supply chains

With 24/7 global news, there is always a natural disaster taking place. Extreme weather events happen across the world and can impact pharmaceutical supply chains - from destroying factories to preventing workers from getting to the factory floor.

Rx-360 believes that when a natural disaster occurs, companies are ‘often not adequately prepared to handle the situation effectively and expeditiously to minimise business impact, customer and / or patient impact’. 

In response to the natural disasters members have experienced, the Rx-360 Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Consortium has created a Natural Disaster Contingency Planning guide, to help businesses plan their reaction to such circumstances.

Furthermore, Rx-360 sees failure in data governance and accuracy as a huge detriment: ‘The US FDA, European inspectorate, and WHO have enforced such actions in the US and Europe including countries such as India, China, and Japan. The industry does not appear to have fully met the data integrity requirements and expectations. The Rx-360 Data Integrity Work Group will develop processes, tools, and training to incorporate data integrity best practices’. 

Maintaining security in healthcare

Rx-360 as an international consortium, has as a foundational goal to ensure the security of the pharmaceutical supply chain.

"Being able to offer robust member groups in multiple international regions supports and drives our mission”, said Jim Fries, CEO of Rx-360. “This important step by our members illustrates this profound commitment to sharing ideas and thereby ensuring patient safety."

With globalisation of distribution for both drug components and finished products, the levels of complexity and threats become an ever-increasing challenge.

"We cannot work in a vacuum”, said Scott Kammer, an Rx-360 Board Member and Secretary and Head of Global Product Protection and Commercial Quality for Takeda Pharmaceutical, Inc. “Participation across the end-to-end supply chain needs focused attention from both the industry and its regulators. Our goal is to expand knowledge, educate others, and partner with all members of the industry as well as regulators across the globe to seek innovative solutions."

Next month, Rx-360's December Annual Members Meeting will see over 70 companies meet to discuss the various successes from 2021 across pharmaceutical supply chain security, including quality and patient safety - and where to go from here.