SupplyScape - Industry Collaboration Bears Fruit with EPCglobal Drug Pedigree Standard, Enabling Compliance With All State and Federal Pedigree Laws

Woburn, Mass., January 11, 2007 - SupplyScape Corporation, inventor of the electronic pedigree solution for the pharmaceutical supply chain, contributed its electronic pedigree intellectual property toward the EPCglobal Drug Pedigree Standard which was ratified this week. The royalty-free intellectual property contribution is the product of a significant investment in research and development conducted over a period of more than three years. Now ratified as an open standard, the EPCglobal Drug Pedigree Standard details the format for a pedigree document, including all the data fields and certification processes necessary to comply with all known drug pedigree laws in the US. These include the California electronic pedigree law and the Florida electronic pedigree rules as well as all state pedigree laws and regulations and the federal Prescription Drug Marketing Act that allow paper or electronic approaches.

The EPCglobal Healthcare Life Science and Software Action Groups requested Lucia Deus, Vice President of Product Development at SupplyScape, to be Editor for the technology specification of the new industry standard. In this critical role, Deus collaborated with other leaders in the working groups and participants from across the supply chain. The cross-industry initiative resulted in development and ratification of the new standard in just over a year, which is considered lightning speed for any open industry standard.

"I want to thank Lucy for two years of tremendous collaboration and leadership toward the pedigree format standard." said Eli B. Perlman of TIBCO Software Health Sciences Industry Group, and co-chair of the EPCglobal Drug Pedigree Messaging Working Group. "While this is a technology specification, more importantly, it is the codification of the business processes and use cases that occur throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain. It is hard for me to believe that, without Lucy's deep knowledge of the drug distribution processes, her regulatory expertise, her extensive experience in technology interoperability and document security, and her unending and unselfish willingness to sweat the details, we would have been able to have achieved this milestone in such a complete, effective, and timely way."

"At SupplyScape we believe standards are essential to ensure pedigree interoperability across the value network of trading partners," said SupplyScape Vice President of Product Development Lucy Deus. "I was particularly pleased to work closely with the pedigree initiative leaders at Cardinal Health, McKesson and HDMA, in addition to pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmacies and technology providers."

Deep Collaboration Provides Inclusive Foundation for Entire Pharmaceutical Network

In specifying the format that enables regulatory compliance, the EPCglobal pedigree standard accommodates a variety of approaches in use today across the drug distribution industry. Electronic pedigree documents are encouraged, but the standard also specifies how paper pedigrees can be scanned and embedded into the electronic document, ensuring a complete pedigree document record of the drug's chain of custody. Numerous product serialization approaches can be used, including RFID, many types of barcode, or no product serialization at all.

"We're thrilled the EPCglobal membership came together to ratify this open pedigree standard, which complies with all pedigree requirements while supporting the diverse operational demands of the pharmaceutical industry," added Deus. "On behalf of our customers, we were glad to support this industry effort from its inception by contributing our IP, knowledge and experience to help accelerate the pedigree standard."

E-Pedigree Adoption Exceeds 200 Million Drugs Supported by Standards Growth

"Over 200 million drug bottles have electronic pedigrees already, and E-Pedigree adoption will accelerate even faster now that this standard is completed," said Jeff Durand, vice president of services at SupplyScape.

"With over 45 customers, more companies use SupplyScape E-Pedigree than all the others combined," added Durand. "It's the fastest and most cost effective approach for companies of all sizes, including those who do repackaging and med-surge kitting. For small wholesalers capturing the pedigree details from paper pedigrees and/or QuickBooks, our solution is fast and easy. For Pharma manufacturers, SAP's certification of E-Pedigree ensures smooth integration with their existing ERP systems."

Three-Years of Technology Leadership Contributions To EPCglobal Healthcare Life Science

SupplyScape has provided expertise to EPCglobal since 2004, when SupplyScape's Deus educated industry members and technology providers on electronic pedigree at the inaugural meeting of the EPCglobal Healthcare Life Sciences industry forum. In 2005, SupplyScape contributed its pedigree format specification to the EPCglobal standard initiative.

More recently, Deus and Bob Celeste, Healthcare Director for EPCglobal North America, co-presented a progress report on the pedigree standard to pharmaceutical companies, wholesalers and pharmacies at the HDMA NACDS RFID Healthcare Industry Adoption Summit in November, 2005, as well as to the FDA Counterfeit Drug Task Force in February, 2006.

In addition to pedigree leadership, SupplyScape has provided the industry's first EPC authentication service, utilizing EPCIS with network-wide business applications that enable drug trading partners to verify the source and status of the RFID or barcode EPC serial number on a drug. This RxAuthentication Service is widely used across the Pharma supply chain with over 3.5 million authentications of commercial drugs occurring in the past 12 months alone.

To help customers stay abreast of changing pedigree regulations impacting all trading partners from manufacturer to pharmacy, SupplyScape recently hosted a Webinar featuring expert insight from Dr. Paul Rudolf, who formerly spearheaded the FDA's pedigree and RFID initiatives. Customers can view the Web cast of Dr. Rudolf's presentation by selecting the link titled "PDMA Pedigree Webinar Replay" on the SupplyScape homepage at www.supplyscape.com.

About SupplyScape

SupplyScape Corporation is a leading provider of supply chain software and expertise to drive maximum security and value in the pharmaceutical supply chain. A pioneer in defining both the open universal EPCglobal-standards-based pedigree solution and the EPC authentication service for the pharmaceutical industry, SupplyScape provides market-leading authentication, ePedigree, trading partner integrity, and certificate authority services and solutions that efficiently support the diverse operational environments spanning the entire pharmaceutical value chain. The company's solutions enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, wholesalers, distributors, and pharmacies to maximize patient safety and product revenue throughout the pharmaceutical and biotechnology value chains. For more information, visit www.supplyscape.com.

SupplyScape and SupplyScape E-Pedigree are trademarks of SupplyScape Corporation. EPCglobal, SAP, TIBCO, and Intuit QuickBooks are trademarks of their respective organizations.