Pharma cos to benefit from healthcare group

EAN India has said that global companies from the pharmaceutical and medical device industry has formed a global GS1 Healthcare User Group (HUG).

The objective of this group is to lead the utilisation and development of global standards for the healthcare industry, with the primary focus on automatic product identification to improve patient safety.

The group is constituted by Baxter, Boston Scientific, B Braun, 3M, GSK, Hospira, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic Merck, NACDS, Pfizer, Smiths Medical, and Tyco.

Set up as a not-for-profit organisation in 1996 under the ministry of commerce, EAN India represents a joint industry-government collaborative initiative at bringing International best practices into India.

Its board of management comprises Apex Chambers of Commerce and Industry, leading export trading bodies, institutes and the ministry of commerce and its founder members include CII, FICCI, Assocham, BIS, FIEO, IIP, Spices Board, APEDA, IMC and the Ministry of Commerce.

It is the first time that the healthcare industry is aligning around a global solution to enhance automatic product identification for the benefit of patients globally.

According to Ravi Mathur, CEO of EAN India (soon to become GS1 India) said, "Indian pharma companies by joining group will get exposure to global best practices."

"This will also help them in increasing India's pharma exports market share through integration and ready acceptance by the global healthcare sector. Parallely it would help in assuring enhanced patient safety, a largely neglected area in India," he added.

The work of the HUG will improve the performance of the healthcare supply chain for drugs and medical devices through the collaborative development and endorsement of recommended voluntary GS1 standards and best practices.

Mathur said, "EAN India is driving adoption of International standards in the Healthcare sector in India through interaction with regulatory bodies, hospitals, pharma companies, quality council of India."

The main focus areas for the group are the following: prevention of medical errors, product Authentication, tracking and tracing, increase total supply chain efficiency.

While evaluating existing standards, the HUG will work on the further development Of GS1 standards to optimise their utilisation in healthcare applications, said Mathur.