USF Polytechnic Helps Optimize Production Of Cancer Drug

USF Polytechnic (USFP) in Lakeland is working with the biopharmaceutical company Cephalon, Inc. to improve production of a cancer pain medication. To improve production of the medication, USFP is working to implement a new technology known as track-and-trace serialization.
 
"The track-and-trace technology gives each package a unique item specification number, which will help manage the supply chain," says Dr. Ismail Uysal of USFP who oversees the project. "With this technology you can tell where a package originated from, what factory it was manufactured in and what countries it was in during distribution."

According to Uysal, the track-and-trace technology will protect against counterfeit medication. "Once you have a unique serial ID, it will be much more difficult to replace products in a supply chain that are counterfeit," he says.

As part of the implementation process, the USFP team has recreated a packaging production line in the College of Technology and Innovation's research laboratory. Uysal says that his team has been working with Cephalon for the past six months. Starting in 2015, states like California and Florida will require pharmaceutical companies to use track-and-trace technology on all medication packaging.

In addition to helping pharmaceutical companies, Uysal says there are many other uses for the technology. "We are also using this technology in a project with the Department of Defense where we track food rations," Uysal says. "With the track-and-trace technology you can tell what the temperature of the package is, and what the shelf life will be after the distribution of these products."

Writer: Kimberly Patterson
Source: Dr. Ismail Uysal, USF Polytechnic