Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Cyclone Commerce and Paris-based Axway which are integrating operations following their merger in January have teamed up with pharmaceuticals distributor McKesson Corp. to develop pharmaceutical supply chain safety and security solutions.
The firms say their partnership "will be the catalyst for new and new and emerging technologies for both regulatory compliance and inventory management for the pharmaceutical supply chain."
"As a leading drug distributor, we are in direct contact with each point of the supply chain, and are therefore extremely invested in its safety," said Kim Loughead, director of emerging technologies at McKesson. "Our expanded relationship with Axway is designed to address the industry's need to safeguard patients and drive costs out of the supply chain."
Prior to its merger with Axway, Cyclone Commerce first enlisted McKesson's industry expertise in developing the Cyclone ePedigree product an electronic tracking system for manufacturers, distributors, retailers and healthcare providers when the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) outlined expectations for radio-frequency identification (RFID) to be used widely as part of an electronic pedigree system by 2007. Axway (which, along with Cyclone, is a division of Paris-based Sopra Group, SA) has since been working to meet the industry's needs for a longer-term strategy around serialization, product authentication and track and trace while delivering ePedigree as a real approach for commercial supply chains today. As regulatory requirements evolve, supply chain players will benefit from operational improvements, such as increased service levels, improved in-stock rates and shorter order-to-cash cycles.
Daryl Eicher, Cyclone's vice president of healthcare and industry solutions, told Supply & Demand Chain Executive, "The FDA has set its expectations for the direction of the industry. To date, pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and retailers are only focusing on solutions for individual safety-based supply chain initiatives, such as ePedigree. Our partnership with McKesson combines technical and domain expertise to position us as the industry's answer to securing the supply chain, now and as new mandates emerge."
For more information on Axway, visit www.axway.com. To learn more about McKesson Corp., go to www.mckesson.com.
