Experts from NABP and the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy explain how Pulse by NABP equips pharmacists and regulators with real-time drug supply chain verification tools.
In an interview with Pharmacy Times, Josh Bolin, senior adviser of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) and senior vice president of Pulse by NABP, and John Kirtley, PharmD, pharmacy board director from the Arkansas Department of Health, discuss the development and real-world application of Pulse by NABP, a digital platform designed to strengthen drug supply chain integrity in alignment with the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).
Knowing that every once in a while, you have something that doesn't seem right about a medication—or you've got a tote of meds that come in and something looks to have been damaged—just knowing that you could scan that product to validate it immediately in the palm of your hand is an incredibly valuable tool. — John Kirtley, PharmD
Bolin explains that Pulse functions as a comprehensive directory of trading partners—including manufacturers, wholesalers, and pharmacies—as well as the products that move through the supply chain. Together, these directories enable pharmacy investigators and regulators to scan a product's 2D data matrix in the field and immediately verify its provenance, identify its trading history, and flag it as suspect if discrepancies arise.
Kirtley underscores the transformative practical value of Pulse, describing how Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy investigators used the platform to identify a suspect injectable glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist product within a single field visit. What previously required weeks of laborious cross-referencing across lot numbers, stickers, and enforcement contacts can now be resolved in moments—and, critically, can directly link diverted medications to specific events, such as pharmacy break-ins, substantially strengthening law enforcement cases.
A major development for community and independent pharmacies is that NABP plans to make Pulse's product verification tool available to pharmacies at no cost later this summer, ahead of DSCSA's next compliance milestone in November 2025. Bolin notes that independent and community pharmacies are disproportionately targeted by deals that appear too good to be true, making this tool especially critical for front-line dispensers. With DSCSA's serialization requirements now extending traceability down to the individual saleable unit—a significant advancement beyond previous lot-level tracking—pharmacists gain an unprecedented ability to confirm product legitimacy in real time, directly at the point of dispensing.
