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2007 |
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Pfizer to Use RFID to Combat Fake Viagra
September 25, 2006
A pharmaceutical giant has announced it is using radio frequency identification (RFID) to fight pharmaceutical fakes.
Pfizer has initiated a tag application-verification process for Viagra sold in the United States. As each bottle is packaged, a label with an integrated passive high-frequency tag is applied. An RFID interrogator encodes an electronic product code (EPC) to each label, after which a second interrogator verifies the tag has been successfully encoded. It also reads the unique ID stored on the tag's chip, enabling Pfizer to record chip ID and EPC in a database.
Authenticity Checked
Pfizer sells five different stock-keeping units (SKUs) of Viagra -- several million units per year in the U.S. The company is also tagging the SKUs at the case and pallet levels.
Upon receipt, wholesalers and pharmacies will use an RFID interrogator linked to the pharmaceutical company's RxAuthentication Service over a secure Internet connection to verify the authenticity of each tag's unique EPC and chip ID.
If the EPC was not issued by Pfizer, or if the chip ID does not match Pfizer's records, the service sends a notice to quarantine the product, and to Pfizer's Medical Information Services employees, who process suspected cases of counterfeit drugs. The MIS employees then ask the druggist or wholesaler to send the suspected bottle to Pfizer for investigation.
There is also a version of the RxAuthentication process that allows wholesalers processing cases or pallets to verify the EPCs encoded to the case and pallet tags.
Pfizer claims it is the first pharmaceutical company with a program of this type, focused on EPC authentication as a means of deterring counterfeiting. However, Wal-Mart now requires its top 300 suppliers to tag cases and pallets of select goods. Over 24 drug providers tag bulk containers of Schedule II drugs, prescription painkillers and drugs of abuse shipped to the retailer's pharmaceutical distribution centers.
FDA Approved
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has endorsed the use of RFID as a means of authenticating and tracking individual containers of drugs throughout the supply chain, in order to create an e-pedigree showing each bottle's chain of custody. But Pfizer says it, and its distributors, wholesalers, and other supply chain partners, are not yet prepared to roll out an e-pedigree system.
Systech, a provider of automated packaging and data collection systems, worked with Tagsys and Pfizer to design the automated tagging process. Pfizer worked with SupplyScape, a creator of pharmaceutical supply chain software, to deploy the RxAuthentication Service.
Source: http://www.technewsworld.com
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