UPS Healthcare
Unit Brings Order
to Pharmaceutical
Company’s System
When Endo Pharmaceuticals decided to automate and streamline the industry's traditional but cum-
bersome and time-consuming manual ordering system, it knew which 3PL to team up with.
t’s not uncommon in business to find
that the trailblazers and ultimate winners are those companies that don’t
follow the rules. But rules are one
thing, compliance is another. And
when you’re dealing with the regulations of
the Drug Enforcement Administration, strict
adherence to the letter of the law is not
optional. But just how you comply is up to
you. And Endo Pharmaceuticals has found
that automating the ordering and delivery of
controlled substances not only satisfies the
government but is a sure path to success.
The DEA has permitted electronic ordering of Class II controlled substances since
2004, but relatively few pharmaceutical
manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers
have taken advantage of it, according to
Dan Gagnon, director of global strategy for
UPS Healthcare Logistics, which is very definitely involved with the process.
UPS operates quite a number of secure
I
warehouses with concrete vaults in which it
stocks the products of clients such as Endo.
Using a Controlled Substance Ordering System, or CSOS, 3PLs like UPS Healthcare
Logistics receive orders from their customers, pick and pack, ensure the licensing
scheme mandated by the DEA is in order,
then make delivery to the end customer.
In the case of Endo, that’s usually the
large retailers and wholesalers, says
Gagnon.
If the process duplicates the traditional
manual distribution process, what’s the
advantage? Cycle times are significantly
improved, according to Gagnon and Steve
Cowan, vice president of supply chain at
Endo. Just how much depends on the order
and the parties involved, but in some
instances as many as 18 days have been
shaved from order cycle times, Gagnon
says. And that’s a huge bonus for customers.
It’s not uncommon now, says Cowan, that
an order can be shipped the same day it’s
placed with Endo. Under the former process,
which Endo began doing away with in 2008,
orders were either faxed or snail-mailed by
customers. They then were sent by the same
cumbersome process to the warehousing
services provider. Finally, they were shipped
to the customer. Paper, specifically DEA
Form 222, dogged the process every step of
the way. Every transaction in the process,
from order to fulfillment, had to be accompa-
nied by the form, Cowan says. It’s designed to
verify that all parties involved in the transport
and receipt of Class II controlled substances
are who they claim to be, thus securing the
supply chain.
