Cardinal Health Readies Item-Level Pilot

Although the RFID data will contribute to drug authentication, Jackson says health-care industry needs to do more than apply one kind of technology or process to improve drug safety. "We believe, from an authentication and pedigree standpoint, the best way to secure drugs from the outset is ensuring we do direct distribution by acquiring products [prescription drugs] directly from the manufacturer," he says. In a direct distribution model, wholesalers (such as Cardinal Health, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen) would buy goods directly from manufacturers and then distribute them to the customer, such as a hospital or retail pharmacy, rather than sell them to another wholesaler on the secondary market.

"RFID and other technologies are additional tools," Jackson explains. "RFID isn't the silver bullet."

The pilot is costing more than $1 million and will help Cardinal Health prepare for any regulations that may come from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or other government agencies. The FDA is actively studying RFID to combat drug counterfeiting. Once the pilot is complete in the fall, Jackson says, Cardinal Health will share its findings with regulatory agencies, customers and others in the health-care industry. Cardinal Health will also share its experience with Cephalon, a biopharmaceutical company running its own RFID pilot (see Cephalon Announces Item-Level Pilot).

Several other drug and health-care companies, including Purdue Pharma (see Purdue Pharma to Run Pedigree Pilot), GlaxoSmithKline (see GlaxoSmithKline Tests RFID on HIV Drug) and Pfizer (see Pfizer Using RFID to Fight Fake Viagra), have launched RFID pilots to tag individual containers of prescription drugs. In addition, Cardinal Health is working with Pfizer on a separate RFID pilot to authenticate Viagra shipments at Cardinal's Findlay facility.