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Nigerian Drug Agency Opts for RFID Anticounterfeiting Technology
The system is deliberately designed to ensure it can work even in the event of a power outage, Peifer says, and requires no back-end software to store information. "Simplicity is the main feature," he states. Each Pentesta and Traytesta reader comes with two buttons: one to power on the device, and another to read a tag. The only two possible responses are the red and green lights.
The tags could be read by consumers or pharmacists at the point of sale before a customer purchases a medication, but they could also be read at the time that a pharmacist receives the products from a distributor, thereby verifying that the items are, in fact, authentic.
The next challenge for the developers, Khandelwal says, is to ensure that pharmaceutical manufacturers can attach the RFID tags to product bottles and blister wrap without significant additional cost. The tags themselves, when purchased in very large volume, cost less than 10 cents apiece.
"What we have suggested is that it be left to the end of the manufacturing process," Ams says, at which time the tags could be attached to packaging, or directly to product containers. Most drug manufacturers have expressed a favorable opinion of the solution, he says, since it helps assure them that their products will not be counterfeited in Nigeria.
The readers, when purchased in quantities close to a million, would be priced at approximately $20 each. Ams says he expects pharmaceutical product importers and manufacturers to order the tags in quantities of as much as 100 million per month. However, he adds, it is difficult to predict how soon manufacturers will begin attaching tags to drugs destined for Nigeria, and until that occurs, the government will not require pharmacies to acquire readers.
GlobalPCCA is also marketing a similar solution for tracking documents in entirely different industries, Ams indicates, such as college diplomas or banking documents. Discussions with end users are currently underway, he says, though no customers can yet be named.
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The tags could be read by consumers or pharmacists at the point of sale before a customer purchases a medication, but they could also be read at the time that a pharmacist receives the products from a distributor, thereby verifying that the items are, in fact, authentic.
The next challenge for the developers, Khandelwal says, is to ensure that pharmaceutical manufacturers can attach the RFID tags to product bottles and blister wrap without significant additional cost. The tags themselves, when purchased in very large volume, cost less than 10 cents apiece.
"What we have suggested is that it be left to the end of the manufacturing process," Ams says, at which time the tags could be attached to packaging, or directly to product containers. Most drug manufacturers have expressed a favorable opinion of the solution, he says, since it helps assure them that their products will not be counterfeited in Nigeria.
GlobalPCCA is also marketing a similar solution for tracking documents in entirely different industries, Ams indicates, such as college diplomas or banking documents. Discussions with end users are currently underway, he says, though no customers can yet be named.
