Sharing Supply-Chain Security

Van Trieste is vice-president of quality at Amgen (Thousand Oaks, CA) and interim director of Rx-360, the recently established international pharmaceutical supply-chain consortium.
We have learned some recent lessons the hard way. The tragedies related to economically motivated adulteration of glycerin in Haiti, Panama, and Nigeria as well as heparin used in the United States and Europe, and melamine found in various products throughout the world, have taught us that unethical individuals and criminals have entered the pharmaceutical supply chain with tragic consequences. The US Food and Drug Administration estimates that at least 800 individuals have died throughout the world [because of] adulterated glycerin. The number of deaths and serious injuries related to the other events mentioned is in the thousands.