RFID Poised to Show Its Value, IBM Expert Says

It’s just a matter of time before drug, device and biologics companies see the value in RFID and embrace the technology to improve product quality, speed recalls and work more efficiently and effectively with regulators, IBM’s RFID guru told PIR.

“The benefits of RFID are significant throughout the supply chain,” said Paul Chang, Worldwide Development, EPCIS Solutions, IBM Software Group. He testified July 13 as part of the Information Technology Industry Council before a Senate RFID forum to discuss its benefits in the healthcare industry.

RFID is a “transformative technology perfect for the life sciences industry,” Chang said. It will reduce inefficiencies for companies in their inventories and manufacturing and distribution of product, and help regulators administer recalls, he suggested. RFID can also help companies fight the growing problem of counterfeit drugs, Chang said. Using RFID, a legitimate drug manufacturer or devicemaker can authenticate its product in a way that a counterfeiter cannot.

But life sciences firms may not yet be aware of how positive RFID can be for them, Chang admitted. He thinks that may change as a number of return-on-investment RFID pilot projects currently taking place begin to show results. And he believes there won’t be a wide adoption gap among drug, device or biologics firms regardless of size. “This movement will be across the board,” Chang said.

FDA Pushes RFID

The FDA is trying to do its part to advance RFID. In addition to calling on Congress to get involved in advocating it for anti-counterfeiting efforts, the FDA recently said it will “fully implement” regulations related to the Prescription Drug Marketing Act of 1987, requiring drug distributors to provide documentation of the chain of custody for drug products throughout the distribution system (PIR, June 21).

RFID usage for government medical facilities is already on the rise. A recent example was when 3M said it had snagged a $3.7 million, three-year contract with the U.S. Army to tag medical documents with RFID.

3M said it will design and build a system to ID the documents at Fort Hood, Texas, for more than 150,000 servicemen and women and their families to enable the paper to be tracked while it remains on shelves. 3M will also develop the software for the tagging project and train military staff in how to use the system. The Army’s goal is to use RFID to eliminate errors from human filing and retrieval and speed up treatment for personnel. — Michael Causey