BeyeNETWORK - The Global Vision for BI and Beyond

IPC Selects Information Builders iWay Software to Meet Compliance with FDA Standards

Published: August 27, 2008

IPC selected Information Builders iWay Software to meet drug tracking requirements in complete compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards.

iWay Software, an Information Builders company and an innovator of enterprise integration solutions, announced that IPC, the nation's largest group purchasing organization for independent pharmacies, used Information Builders iWay Software to meet drug tracking requirements in complete compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. IPC completed the project for a fraction of the cost of deploying a packaged e-pedigree solution, and well in advance of an imminent FDA deadline.

IPC is responding to FDA requirements designed to curb pharmaceutical drug counterfeiting. Last year, the FDA announced that drug wholesalers must track the pedigree of all pharmaceutical products dispensed in their retail pharmacies. Meeting this requirement meant IPC had to create a tracking system that could account for each bottle of drugs that passes through its warehouses with a consequent impact on many of its core information systems.

IPC used iWay Service Manger to integrate important pharmaceutical data with its back-office information systems. It now maintains a pedigree for each bottle of pharmaceuticals, including all pertinent dates, the names of each party involved, and the addresses of key transactions, as regulated by the FDA.

"Without iWay, we might have been forced to go out of business, or do business entirely differently,” said James Blake, Vice President of Information Technology at IPC. "In 14 weeks we had a complete e-pedigree system in place, and it is integrated with all of our legacy systems. We've easily saved $1 million in development dollars in a relatively short timeframe. More importantly, we were able to meet federal requirements that we couldn't have met otherwise.”