New Certificates Required by Florida Electronic Pedigree Regulations Are Available from SupplyScape
WOBURN, Mass., June 7, 2006 - SupplyScape Corporation, the leader in E-Pedigree solutions, announced a new RxCertificates service today that meets the Certificate Authority requirements for Florida electronic pedigree, only one week after the Florida Department of Health published regulations for Certification Authority and Digital Signatures for Self-Authenticating Pedigree in the June 2 edition of the Florida Administrative Weekly. Unlike certificates issued by existing, more generic certificate authorities that don't comply with the new Florida requirements, the certificates issued by the SupplyScape certificate authority meet all the regulations defined by Florida and therefore can be used to assign the digital certificates needed to sign electronic pedigrees for drugs distributed in Florida after July 1 of this year.
SupplyScape RxCertificates provides the essential component required by Florida for electronic pedigrees: compliant certificates. The certificate authority supports all the certificate issuance and maintenance specifications required by Florida. As such, the service is issuing the appropriate digital certificates needed to sign self-authenticating pedigrees in compliance with Florida regulations.
"Existing generic certificate authorities simply can't meet the regulatory requirements a wholesale distributor faces before it can be granted the digital certificates it needs to sign pedigrees," said SupplyScape CEO and President Shabbir Dahod. "Because of our extensive expertise, investment, and leadership in developing solutions for Florida's regulations, we can provide digital certificates now. In addition, due to our commitment to open standards, RxCertificates can be used with anyone's electronic pedigree solution."
According to SupplyScape, it was particularly important to construct the service to issue digital certificates that not only work with any electronic pedigree system but also meet a broad range of industry standards, including the ratified standards for Certificate Profiles as outlined by EPCglobal.
"It's imperative that companies confirm, as part of their current pedigree project planning, that they have fully compliant and standardized digital certificates," added Dahod.
Certificate Authority Designed to Exacting Standards
"Due to the criticality of the role that digital certificates play in the pedigree process, we needed to design the service and its certificates to be bulletproof," commented Peter Spellman, senior vice president of products and services at SupplyScape. "This entailed creating a rigorous certification process and a strong security platform built on strong privacy and interoperability standards."
To this end, SupplyScape partnered with Entrust, Inc. to help build the security foundation at the center of its RxCertificates service. Leveraging Entrust's renowned solutions that secure digital identities and information, SupplyScape is providing its customers with an enhanced level of trust required by Florida in self-authenticating electronic pedigree transactions.
"Strong, certificate-based authentication is a cornerstone requirement for electronic pedigrees," said Entrust Vice President Eric Skinner. "We are pleased that SupplyScape selected Entrust for our FIPS-validated certification authority software, Entrust Authority, and our strong track record of securing leading governments and enterprises globally."
About SupplyScape Corporation
SupplyScape Corporation provides supply chain security software and expertise to safeguard and secure the pharmaceutical supply chain. A leader in defining the open universal standards-based electronic pedigree solution for the pharmaceutical industry, SupplyScape Corporation provides electronic pedigree and drug identity authentication software and services. The company's solutions enable pharmaceutical companies, wholesalers, distributors, and pharmacies to derive sustainable business value from their investments in supply chain security. For more information, visit www.supplyscape.com.
