Radio frequency revolution?

Radio frequency identification is emerging as one of the key technologies that can offer the pharma sector a competitive advantage. Ross Hall, ceo of BT Auto-ID Services, outlines the benefits

Radio frequency identification (RFID) could change the way the pharmaceutical industry works. RFID is a wireless technology, which is being used increasingly in industry to improve supply chain management, lower costs and create better efficiencies. Analyst group Arc has labelled the pharmaceutical sector as a 'potential RFID gold rush'. It predicts the market for RFID systems in the manufacturing supply chain will be worth nearly US$3bn by 2006.

Each RFID tag has a unique code that when transmitted to a manufacturer's or supplier's database, can unlock a vast amount of information about the product scanned. For example, if a shelf in a pharmacy is equipped with an RFID reader, when stocks of a particular statin run low, the shelf automatically recognises this and sends a message to the warehouse IT system. This will then alert the supplier of the product that more stock is needed and a new batch will have arrived automatically in the warehouse by the time it is needed.

The logistics within the pharmaceutical industry are both complicated and expensive. For the retailer or dispenser, maintaining stock levels is essential and both have a natural tendency to over-order, leading to excessive capital tied up in unnecessary buffer stocks. RFID can be used to re-order automatically just what is needed. At present, when a shipment is received each batch of drugs must be manually scanned and logged into the stock control system, which can be very costly when dealing with millions of products. However, if products or entire shipments can be RFID tagged, the stock keeping and management process can be greatly improved and costs reduced.

This is possible because data contained within an RFID tag is transmitted via radio waves without the need for line of sight contact. This means hundreds or even thousands of products can be automatically scanned every second. By ensuring greater visibility in the supply chain, RFID not only enables manufacturers and suppliers to share more information, but also leads to significant cost-savings for both parties.

fighting fakes

The growth of counterfeit drug production is a serious problem for pharmaceutical companies and often results in lost revenues and damaged brand reputations. Counterfeit drugs can have fatal implications - there have been several incidents where patients have died as a result of treatment with counterfeit drugs, mainly in developing countries. The World Health Organisation has estimated that 200,000 deaths a year from malaria could be prevented if the drugs used to treat it were genuine and used correctly.

Unfortunately, it is often impossible to tell if a drug is genuine without extensive testing. By attaching RFID tags to pharmaceutical packaging, this problem can be solved. When an RFID tag is scanned it transmits a unique code to the reader, which can then reveal the complete history of the product. If this does not match the product database of the manufacturer, then it is obvious that the product is either a fake, or has been illegally introduced into the supply chain.

By offering complete visibility of a product's history, RFID technology ensures that any counterfeit drugs can be quickly tracked down and eliminated. This guarantees that the products dispensed by pharmacists and doctors are genuine.

RFID can also offer benefits to the complicated, lengthy and costly clinical trials process. The greater supply chain visibility that RFID offers means each batch of drugs can be tagged and tracked. Thus the pharmacist conducting the trial can log the receipt of drugs automatically using an RFID reader rather than having to register each one individually on paper or via a cumbersome automatic telephone system.

With trials that involve multiple locations and a large number of different products, RFID tagging can ensure that each trial always has the right quantity of each product, thus ensuring no delays in the process.

Other areas of healthcare that are benefiting from RFID include electronic record keeping, drug dispensary in hospitals, blood stock management and expiry date management.

RFID presents the pharmaceutical industry with an array of tangible benefits that businesses cannot afford to ignore. Providing instant information about a product or batch of products at any point in the manufacturing process or subsequent supply chain is a major advantage in the fight against counterfeit goods, as well as enabling vast improvements in terms of stock control. By guaranteeing the pedigree of drugs and medicines, RFID will ensure that companies can offer authentic products exactly when they are needed.