Bio, Pharma Companies Seek Extension to ePedigree Deadline in California
The San Diego Business Journal reported on February 4th, 2008 that biotech and pharmaceutical companies are ill-prepared to meet California’s January 1, 2009 deadline for instituting ePedigree standards in their manufacturing processes.
The article, titled “Drug Makers Want to Extend Deadline for Drug Tracking” says that “most [companies] have been testing radio frequency identification” tracking and require “more time to put the systems in place.” Fifty companies and agencies have noted their progress in implementing the standards with the California state government. Only two are prepared to meet the current deadline. With the federal government in the process of examining IT standards for ePedigrees through the US Deptartment of Health and Human Services, the situation in California becomes even more complicated.