On November 19, 2024, the Louisiana Board of Drug and Device Distributors will be conducting VR-DAY – an interoperable drug verification readiness exercise. As a courtesy, we are pleased to invite stakeholders to attend, both in person and virtually, to observe and discuss. Seating for the in-person event will be limited on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Background

The mission of the Board is to safeguard life and health and to promote public welfare of all citizens by the licensing and regulation of entities engaging in the distribution of legend drugs or legend devices within and into the state of Louisiana. To support this mission, the Board intends to make use of the enhanced drug distribution security (EDDS) network under the DSCSA.

A major component of the EDDS is the Verification Router Service (VRS), an interconnected network of vendor systems designed to automate verification requests and responses. While the use of the VRS is not mandated by law, the DSCSA does require “systems and processes for verification of product at the package level, including the standardized numerical identifier.” The Board intends to leverage these capabilities in support of its efforts to keep people safe from contraband drugs.

Purpose

Interoperability under the DSCSA can only be accomplished through collaborative effort. The purpose of the VR-DAY readiness exercise is to provide DSCSA stakeholders including the Board an opportunity to undertake a real-time series of verifications and observe the results.