The Pistoia Alliance today announced the release of Version 1.7 of the IDMP Ontology, the open, machine-readable framework that turns the ISO IDMP standards into a shared digital language for describing medicinal products consistently across systems, companies and jurisdictions.
The headline of this release is structured packaging. Version 1.7 introduces pack size representation as the total number of units in a package, expressed per unit of presentation, following EMA and ISO guidance. Composite packs are captured one component at a time, and combination products such as powder-and-solvent packs that require reconstitution are recognized automatically from their pharmaceutical dose form. Built-in validation rules derive pack sizes from a product’s constituents and confirm that the values hold together, so packaging data is not just recorded but checked.
The release also adds the units of presentation vial, capsule and syringe mapped to the corresponding EMA SPOR reference data, so that product descriptions line up with the reference terminology regulators and industry already use. These additions make it easier to represent real-world packaging accurately and to compare it across sources.
Every change in Version 1.7 traces back to a specific request from the group of experts who review and inform the ontology. Therefore, each release reflects real implementation needs. Version 1.7 also completes a technical migration of the ontology’s source files to the Turtle format, introduces a single merged release file for easier consumption, and ships quality reports alongside the ontology.
“Every release of the IDMP Ontology is shaped by organizations who use it. Version 1.7 focuses on packaging because that is what our community of experts told us they needed next,” explains Aditya Tyagi, Project Manager of the Pistoia Alliance IDMP Ontology. “That is the pattern: the industry brings real problems, and the ontology evolves to solve them. If you work with medicinal product data, now is the time to be a part of what we build next.”
Version 1.7 continues the steady, quarterly evolution of the IDMP Ontology, with each release adding the capabilities the industry has asked for. The improvements introduced are relevant to everyone working with medicinal product data.
Pharma and life sciences organizations interested in staying abreast of developments of the IDMP Ontology can join our Community of Interest (CoI) to follow releases, learn from peers, and inform industry requests.
Watch the recording of our latest CoI meeting and find out more on the IDMP Ontology webpage.
Alternatively, contact idmpo@pistoiaalliance.org to engage directly in the ontology’s evolution and maintenance.