"It's not impossible". Taha Yayci, M.S. Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health.

The Turkish "Pharmaceutical Track and Trace System" (abbreviated as ITS) defines the infrastructure constructed to track and trace all units belonging to each pharmaceutical product in Turkey. ITS is the application of the well-known "Track & Trace" structure applied to the pharmaceutical industry. The serialization providing the uniqueness of the units is ensured by the DataMatrix code instead of formerly used barcode. The ability to track each drug unit is provided by gathering the information of each unit in every single step and action; and traceability is provided by its pedigree.

ITS is the first successful and unique application of "Pharmaceutical Track and Trace System" in the world. ITS is designed to track the location of every drug unit to ensure the reliable supply of drugs to patients. Therefore, all the drugs on the market are traced by notifications in all phases from production to consumption. Thus; the sale of fraudulent drugs, drug theft and barcode scams are prevented. In addition, if required, drugs can easily be recalled due to traceability of stocks. (Source: http://itsportal.saglik.gov.tr/content.php?Id=69)

In this Part One of this interview Taha Yayci, M.S., Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health & Owner of TechNarts speaks to Andrea Charles from Cold Chain IQ, about the lessons learnt implementing the ITS system, the ROI and what this means for the global pharmaceutical industry.

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