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Animal Health Products Identification Standard

A first step towards traceability

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What is IFAH?

• IFAH is the global representative body of manufacturers of veterinary medicines, vaccines and other animal health products in both developed and developing countries across five continents

• IFAH is an international non-profit organisation registered under Belgian law and is based in Brussels, Belgium

• IFAH represents both Animal Health Companies and Associations. These associations comprise both local medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and international companies. They represent most of the global market for animal health products

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IFAH Mission Statement

• The mission of IFAH is to promote a predictable, harmonised, science-based and innovative market place for the provision of quality animal medicines, vaccines and other animal health products. These contribute to a healthy and safe food supply and to a high standard of health and welfare for animals and people

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IFAH Goal

• To ensure that the contribution of the Animal Health Industry to the health and quality of animal and human life through the advancement of sound science is understood by society at large

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IFAH Structure

The Secretariat

BOARD

GRCT(Global Regulatory

Core Team)

GIMCT(Global Image

Management Core Team)

GFCCT(Global Food Chain

Core Team)

GAT(Global Antibiotics

Team)

GTCT(Global Traceability

Core Team)

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IFAH Members

Member Associations

Belgium

PHARMA.BECroatia

VetcroDenmark

VIFFrance

SIMVGermany

BfTGreece

HAVEPHARMIreland

APHAIsrael

MAIItaly

AISAThe Netherlands

FIDINPortugal

APIFARMASlovenia

WAH (SPMA)Spain

VETERINDUSTRIASwitzerland

SGCI/SSICUnited Kingdom

NOAH

EUROPE

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IFAH Members

Member Associations

NORTH AMERICA

Canada

CAHIUnited States

AHI

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IFAH Members

Member Associations

CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA

Argentina

CAPROVEBrazil

SINDANMexico

INFARVET-CANIFARMA

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IFAH Members

Member Associations

ASIA/PACIFIC

Australia

AVCARE

Indonesia

ASOHI

Japan

JVPA

Korea

KAHPA

New Zealand

AGCARM

AFRICA

South Africa

SAAHA

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OCTOBER, 26th, 2004 THE COMPLETION OF A CYCLE

• CEESA Manulog and the Traceability Working Group of IFAH have merged into the IFAH’s Global Traceability Core Team

• The GTCT is composed of experts designated by their respective CEOs

– AHI R. Phillips– BAYER H. Malik– BOEHRINGER INGELHEIM D. Mann– CEESA H. Marion– CEVA P. Bonassieux/

M. Chaton-Schaffner – ELANCO M. Mitchelson  – FORT DODGE B. Conover/

(S.Verouden)– INTERVET R. Janssen

• The GTCT met several times and agreed by consensus the recommendation

– JANSSEN B. Van Merris/ (W. Peeters)

– MERIAL JC. Muller (chair)– MONSANTO T. Helscher– NOVARTIS R. Billo– PFIZER R. Hollander 

(M. Walchak)– VETOQUINOL Y. Lambert – VIRBAC L. Cesar– SCHERING PLOUGH I. Forrester– SIMV F. Lasvergères

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The Board of Directors of IFAH endorsed the GTCT recommendation for products identification and for the traceability printed support as the worldwide standard for Animal Health Industry.

OCTOBER, 26th, 2004 THE COMPLETION OF A CYCLE

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AN URGENT NEED IN EU, BUT A GLOBAL INVESTMENT

• Trend in EU is to require, from a regulatory point of view, optical readable information containing the batch number, imposing in-line printing of the said information – Decree 306 dated 16/05/2001 in Italy, originally in force in Sept.

05 postponed up to end of 2007,

– Decree 263/2003 in France requiring record at every step as of March 2006 admitted 80% end of 2007, completed end of 2009, other countries moving to the same direction

– Article 18 of EU regulation 178/2002

– Introduction in Portugal of batch traceability at human pharma first

– In preparation in Belgium

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AN URGENT NEED IN EU, BUT A GLOBAL INVESTMENT

• Increasing number of multilingual packs• Products are moving through the borders: produced here,

sold there• Uniformity of the system and uniqueness of numbering is

essential • A single system to avoid 25 different ones.

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THE CONSENSUS RECOMMENDATION

• Use the EAN/UCC worldwide standards• Use GTIN for product identification: uniqueness• Code with EAN Application Identifiers Standard• Support with Datamatrix ECC200 symbology

registered by EAN in July, 2004 • DMECC200 allows for:

– An extended flexibility/possibility to carry additional data– Very low printing errors– Error check and correcting system allowing reading even with a high

level of damage (Reed Solomon)– Limited artwork redesign (can be printed on end flaps)– Small size– In-line printing with high speed inkjet, laser and heat transfer

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• The coding standard used is EAN/UCC128 standard using the special character FNC1 as starter and group separator

• Example of concateneted coding string:

FNC1(02)01234567890128(17)YYMMDD(10)ABC123456FNC1(37)10

ENCODATION OF DATA

This code means a group of 10 units of the product bearing code: 01234567890128, batch numberABC123456, expiring YYMMDD

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SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

• Datamatrix ECC200 symbol as support

• Printed on line

(01)3400969846935(17)090504(10)L123456(37)1

Product idExpiry dateBatch numberQuantity

Datamatrix with id, exp date, batch n°, (plus quantity and serial number for test) on visible side of flap (50 characters)

Real size 7x7mm

Per comparison, an EAN128with only id and batch nb.(20 characters)

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SIZE COMPARISON

Plenty of codes exist. The best fitting on our pharmaceutical products is Datamatrix. It is the smallest size at the moment for the same content.For example:

MicroPDF417 0.66” wide0.16” high 6.7 mil X-dimension, 3:1 Y:X ratio(Minimum height configuration) 4 columns x 8 rows  

Data Matrix ECC200 0.18” wide0.18” high 10 mil cell size, 18 X 18 matrix

 MicroPDF417 is 4 times larger than Datamatrix ECC200

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Thanking you for your attention

Any question?