Message #18 From:
NewsBot Date: November 13, 2006 04:30:00 AM
ABC News AmerisourceBergen Announces Innovative Track and Trace Program for the Pharmaceutical Supply Channel
VALLEY FORGE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE:ABC) today announced at the NACDS
and HDMA RFID Healthcare Industry Adoption Summit being held this week
in Washington, DC, an innovative Track and Trace Program that it
believes will ultimately benefit the entire pharmaceutical supply
channel. AmerisourceBergen has been a leader in protecting the integrity
of the pharmaceutical supply channel, first by pledging over one year
ago to purchase 100 percent of its pharmaceutical and other products
directly from the product manufacturer, and now by launching a unique
Track and Trace initiative which will utilize RFID and Electronic
Product Code Information System (EPCIS) technology to track and trace
products throughout the entire distribution process. AmerisourceBergen
plans to formally launch the Track and Trace pilot program at its
largest distribution center in California by the end of 2006.
In the pilot, AmerisourceBergen will use IBM’s
RFID middleware and embedded software on readers to read RFID tags
currently used by certain pharmaceutical manufacturers as those products
enter the distribution center. The unique product ID from each RFID tag
will be electronically stored in IBM’s EPCIS,
which will be the platform for secure electronic communications back to
the product's manufacturer. This secure information exchange will allow
AmerisourceBergen and its trading partners to work collaboratively to
share transaction information and further secure the supply channel.
As new orders come into the AmerisourceBergen distribution center, the
RFID system can monitor product placed in shipping totes as they move
through the picking, packing, and shipping processes. As each tote
leaves the distribution center the EPCIS software will record the time
and location of each unit leaving the premises as well as its intended
destination so that AmerisourceBergen has a complete record of the
history of all RFID tagged drugs.
“The advantage of using the RFID and EPCIS
system is that the information regarding the product’s
journey through the supply chain is stored in a manner that is useful
for a number of different applications,” said
Shay Reid, AmerisourceBergen Vice President for Integrated Solutions. “Once
the RFID tags have been read and the data has entered the EPCIS, the
system can be queried to build a product pedigree for customers on
demand, to provide real time receiving and shipping information to
manufacturers as well as to more closely track both inventory and
product demand.”
"With IBM's extensive experience in designing and deploying RFID
solutions, I can say that distributors like ABC will have a great
advantage supporting customers through offering unique track and trace
data," said Paul Chang, RFID/Pharma Executive, IBM Software Group. "And
in an industry that lives depend on, IBM is providing the technology
that will lead to a more efficient, safer, and more secure supply chain."
The next step in the pilot program will be to connect AmerisourceBergen’s
EPCIS directly to other business partner EPCIS systems and to select
pharmaceutical manufacturer systems. In the first calendar quarter of
2007, VeriSign will provide services to support the deployment of
technology and software necessary to enable AmerisourceBergen to
communicate and authenticate transactions with its business partners
while also providing the capability to query across multiple EPCIS
systems.
Jeff Richards, vice president and general manager of VeriSign
Intelligent Supply Chain Services stated, “AmerisourceBergen’s
innovative pilot will create unprecedented, direct electronic data
connectivity to its trading partners. This level of data sharing and
connectivity is a critical step towards allowing the pharmaceutical
industry to trace the historical path of a particular product through
the supply chain, which will add a level of security and efficiency to
the pharmaceutical distribution process.”
As AmerisourceBergen tests its Track and Trace pilot program, it intends
to continue to supply electronic pedigrees in the state of Florida to
those wholesale customers that require them under the state's current
drug safety laws. Under the pedigree program, customers are charged fees
that allow the Company to recover the cost of generating the pedigrees.
The Company intends to offer its nationwide wholesale customers the same
electronic pedigree program in support of the Prescription Drug
Marketing Act (PDMA), which goes into full effect on December 1, 2006.
The PDMA rule requires wholesalers who are not "authorized distributors
of record" to provide a pedigree showing chain-of-ownership back to the
manufacturer when selling the drugs to pharmacies.
About AmerisourceBergen
AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC) is one of the world’s
largest pharmaceutical services companies serving the United States,
Canada and selected global markets. Servicing both pharmaceutical
manufacturers and healthcare providers in the pharmaceutical supply
channel, the Company provides drug distribution and related services
designed to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes. AmerisourceBergen’s
service solutions range from pharmacy automation and pharmaceutical
packaging to pharmacy services for skilled nursing and assisted living
facilities, reimbursement and pharmaceutical consulting services, and
physician education. With more than $61 billion in annual revenue,
AmerisourceBergen is headquartered in Valley Forge, PA, and employs more
than 14,000 people. AmerisourceBergen is ranked #27 on the Fortune 500
list. For more information, go to www.amerisourcebergen.com.
Forward Looking Statement
This news release may contain certain "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are
based on management’s current expectations
and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual
results may vary materially from the expectations contained in the
forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements herein
include statements addressing management’s
views with respect to future financial and operating results and the
benefits, efficiencies and savings to be derived from the Company’s
integration plan to consolidate its distribution network. The following
factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially
from those described in any forward-looking statements: competitive
pressures; the loss of one or more key customer or supplier
relationships; customer defaults or insolvencies; changes in customer
mix; supplier defaults or insolvencies; changes in pharmaceutical
manufacturers' pricing and distribution policies or practices; adverse
resolution of any contract or other disputes with customers (including
departments and agencies of the U.S. Government) or suppliers;
regulatory changes; changes in U.S. government policies (including
reimbursement changes arising from the Medicare Modernization Act);
declines in the amounts of market share rebates offered by
pharmaceutical manufacturers to the PharMerica Long-Term Care business,
declines in the amounts of rebates that the PharMerica Long-Term Care
business can retain, and/or the inability of the business to offset the
rebate reductions that have already occurred or any rebate reductions
that may occur in the future; any disruption to or other adverse effects
upon the PharMerica Long-Term Care business caused by the announcement
of the Company’s agreement to combine the
PharMerica Long-Term Care business with the institutional pharmacy
business of Kindred Healthcare, Inc. into a new public company that will
be owned 50% by the Company’s shareholders
(the “PharMerica LTC Transaction”);
the inability of the Company to successfully complete the PharMerica LTC
Transaction; fluctuations in market interest rates; operational or
control issues arising from the Company’s
outsourcing of information technology activities; the Pharmaceutical
Distribution segment’s ability to continue to
successfully transition its business model to fee-for-service; success
of integration, restructuring or systems initiatives; fluctuations in
the U.S. dollar – Canadian dollar exchange
rate and other foreign exchange rates; economic, business, competitive
and/or regulatory developments in Canada, the United Kingdom and
elsewhere outside of the United States; acquisition of businesses that
do not perform as we expect or that are difficult for us to integrate or
control; and other economic, business, competitive, legal, regulatory
and/or operational factors affecting the business of the Company
generally. Certain additional factors that management believes could
cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those
described in forward-looking statements are set forth (i) in Item 1
(Business) under the heading “Certain Risk
Factors” in the Company’s
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2005
and elsewhere in that report and (ii) in other reports filed by the
Company pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
