The pharmaceutical industry continues to embrace radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Pilot projects are demonstrating
proof-of-concept and moving beyond compliance with retailer mandates to identify ways to benefit internally from the product
visibility data RFID makes available. Several companies have made the move to full-scale implementation. Maturing hardware
and software tools bring higher functionality with less customization.
E-pedigree study
An end-to-end e-pedigree pilot undertaken in 2006 by Cardinal Health, Inc. (Dublin, OH,
http://www.cardinal.com/) indicates pallet- and case-level ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) tagging works better than item-level tagging at present, but
it still needs improvement to achieve read rates above 99% consistently (see "Tagging Tools to Provide E-Pedigree, Pharmaceutical Technology, September 2006). "A great deal of additional work needs to be undertaken by stakeholders across the industry to address significant
challenges [related to item-level tagging], including global standards, privacy concerns, and the safe handling of biologics,"
says Renard Jackson, vice-president and general manager of global packaging services for Cardinal. "Until those challenges
are addressed, direct distribution of medicine continues to be the best near-term approach to maintain the highest levels
of security and efficiency in the pharmaceutical supply chain," he states. Jackson concludes, however,"Cardinal Health's test
of RFID under real-world conditions has demonstrated that the technology has real promise to provide an added layer of safety."
Hallie Forcinio
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The Cardinal study also found that tag encoding and application can occur at line speeds with minimal adjustments to current
labeling and packaging lines. On-line encoding yields ranged between 95% and 97% but could approach 100% with some fine-tuning
of the process.
Item-level read rates varied from less than 10% to nearly 100%, depending on the product, situation, and read location. In
general, primary packages read well when cases were scanned one at a time. Item-level read rates decreased when full pallets
were scanned and at read points beyond the unit-to-case aggregation point. Read rates for tagged product in mixed-product
totes varied.
At the case level, full-pallet loads often can be read at 100%. Further testing is needed to determine whether process changes
and hardware tuning can achieve 100% read rates consistently. It also may be necessary to use bar code technology to complement
and serve as a back-up to RFID.
Full-scale implementations
Another pioneer in RFID technology, Purdue Pharma L.P. (Stamford, CT,
http://www.purduepharma.com/), is deploying item-level tagging to improve pharmaceutical supply-chain efficiency and security and enable e-pedigree recordkeeping
(see "Tagging Tools to Provide E-Pedigree," Pharmaceutical Technology, September 2006). The company is achieving 100% read reliability and exceeding read-rate requirements with UHF electronic product
code (EPC) Class 1 Gen 2 technology (RFID tags equipped with "Monza" chips, "Speedway" RFID readers, and near-field antennas
from Impinj, Inc., (Seattle, WA,
http://www.impinj.com/).
Tracking software certifies, captures, and analyzes the data from the RFID tags ("TIPS" serialized product-tracking solution,
SYSTECH International, Cranbury, NJ,
http://www.systech-tips.com/). "The ... technology has been selected as an integral part of our packaging-line improvements to help the company establish
an e-pedigree process that will significantly improve the delivery of products from the factory to the pharmacy counter,"
says Aaron Graham, vice-president of corporate security and chief security officer at Purdue Pharma.
