Why Your NDC-12 Roadmap Should Start Now

For manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors still mapping out their transition to NDC-12, the advice from Ameer Ali is straightforward: start now, and build a roadmap that accounts for how much work is actually involved. Ali, senior director, manufacturer operations and data services at Cencora, spoke with Pharmaceutical Commerce as part of PC's coverage of HDA's 2026 Traceability Seminar, where he presented "Readying Supply Chain Systems and Packaging to Transact NDC-12." In the final installment of his interview, Ali lays out the practical steps supply chain stakeholders should be taking now, and what to expect once the transition period begins.

Ali encourages companies to complete an assessment of their internal systems and processes in the next few months, while noting that a wave of updated EDI guidelines, EPCIS standards and bar coding standards, along with added regulatory clarity, is expected before the end of the year. From there, he recommends building a roadmap that works backward from the effective date, accounting for the level of effort, resources and internal dependencies involved, since some systems may need to be updated before others can follow. Sharing that roadmap with trading partners early, he adds, helps ensure the wider supply chain is ready to test in sync.

Ali is also direct about what the transition period itself will look like in practice. Distributors should expect to handle 10-digit and 12-digit NDCs simultaneously, sometimes for the same product: a manufacturer may ship a 12-digit unit before a distributor's existing 10-digit inventory is depleted, and a saleable return could arrive marked with the old format after the new one is already in circulation. His point is that systems and processes, not just labeling, need to recognize both formats as the same product throughout that window.

Watch the previous installments of Ali’s interview with PC:

1. Cencora's Ameer Ali on Readying Systems for NDC-12
2. Ameer Ali on Why NDC-12 Readiness Can't Wait