RFID Gazette

RFID Gazette - Wed Mar 14, 2007

Managing Portable Toilets With RFID
Many thousands of portable toilets across Europe will have their maintenance scheduled more reliably using low-frequency RFID tags. [via RFID Journal]

VeriChip Still Pushing Implants?
Despite VeriChip's poor showing post-IPO recently (due mostly to doubt about the market for RFID implants), their VeriMed Patient Identification System seems to have created a bit of a buzz at the Atlanta Diabetes Expo. The system requires an implant chip, and is supposed to help health professionals, if a patient arrives at hospital and cannot communicate. For some reason, VeriChip seems to always suggest that a bracelet or badge of some sort wouldn't be durable enough.

Intel Goes UHF
Intel, the world's largest manufacturer of computer processor chips, released their first UHF transceiver chip, the R1000, recently. [via RFID Blog] The chip has attracted attention from several companies. Alien Technology, who plan to use the R1000 in new RFID readers, as well as CAEN and ThingMagic, a startup funded by Cisco and MIT. Intel's chip is expected to usher in lower RFID reader prices.

Implant Thyself, VeriChip

In one of my random updates about VeriChip, I'm unpleased to report that the chairman of VeriChip's parent company still hasn't had himself implanted with an RFID chip - as far as I know - despite claiming he would do so, what, about two years ago? Now, if you've kept up with the RFID industry, you might know that VeriChip is planning an IPO (which they filed for a year ago). And this in the midst of poor performance for some companies in the industry and the generally accepted view that most human beings would never willingly allow themselves to be implanted. Feel free to disagree, but in my opinion, forced implanting is one of the worst applications of RFID, not to mention a travesty of personal privacy, regardless of the political BS being fed to us. Besides, there are so many useful, legitimate, non-infringing applications.

I haven't followed the IPO but I'm thinking they'll have a very hard time with it. (Even VeriChip, in their SEC filing, stated that many patients would be unwilling. Apparently a lot of doctors are uncomfortable with implanting their patients - thank goodness.) Nevertheless, they don't seem to be having any problem implanting 222 people in total with RFID chips, for a sales total of about US$100K. [Speaking of implanting, one of the character's in this week's episode of Smallville is abducted and has a tiny GPS chip implanted in his/her shoulder (don't want to spoil it). Though at first, I thought it might be an RFID chip.]

RFID Roundup - Mon Jan 01, 2007

RFID In China
China's RFID market reached nearly 800M (about US$100M) Renminbi in Q3 2006 and increase of 30% over Q3 2005.

Managing Patient Records
Advanced Pain Management (APM), a clinic in Wisconsin state, is using RFID tech from Alien Technology and Symbol Technologies (Motorola) to manage the records of 50,000 patients. The legacy system involved medical assistants driving records back and forth between a central location and 28 other satellite offices on a daily basis. The middleware, SmartInstrument, is from Reltronics. The entire solution, hardware, software and integration, is US$5,000, and was integrated into APM's ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system.

Gutter Think: RFID In The Sewers
Warendorf, a German city, is using RFID technology to maintain its 127 miles of seweres. Their system, which is tied in the city's GIS (Geographic Information System), tracks maintenance checks and allows workers to not have to use pen and paper. The result is more accurately recorded maintenance data. [via RFID Journal]

RFID SurvivalTags For EMS Workers

RFID, Ltd., is completing the design of uniforms embedded with RFID tags. The uniforms would be worn by firefighters, EMTs, and police. In the event of a high-risk situation, the tags can be used to pinpoint the wearer's location, making rescue easier. The design was spurred on by fire chiefs, whose squads are typically at high risk. Said Nicholas Chavez, president of RFID, Ltd.

...not only monitor locations of their squads but also their heart rates, respiratory developments, and skin temperatures.

This could in fact be an incredibly groundbreaking application of RFID, if it saves even one life. The uniforms are been targeted at the one million US firefighters.

source: Biz Yahoo.

5 RFID Issues

RFID Update has a 3-part series on RFID trends for 2006. Number 10 was "RFID and the Citizen: Passports, Privacy, and Politics". I would have have put this as number 1 myself, in terms of public concern. Their number 1 was "The Industry itself". Each item has a number of links to related articles, and the series is definitely worth a read to get a perspective of what's happening. These types of articles are never easy to write - I know first hand. But here are my 5 issues in RFID (not quite the same type of list).

1. RFID and identification. Should citizens be concerned? Is it all fear-mongering or do we really need RFID citizen cards between Canada and the US?
   
2. The industry itself. How's the industry doing? Can it support RFID IPOs?
   
3. Item-level tagging. I'm referring to the retail industry and the intent of giants such as Wal-Mart to tag everything. A reduction in price for item-level tags should push this application forwards.
   
4. RFID in the pharmaceutical industry. The FDA D-Day, Dec 1st, has come and gone, but in fact, a US Federal Court judge apparently issued an injunction lifting the e-pedigree requirements on certain drugs. The pedigree requirement is a good idea, especially for fighting drug counterfeiting, by the industry has been self-admittedly behind the curve. Will they catch up in 2007? Well, it's been 10 years since an e-pedigree solution was mandated. What's taken so long? (Item-level tagging costs, technological hurdles, etc.)
   
5. RFID in payment systems. Do we need contactless credit cards? Are they secure? And should it be legal for merchants to refuse cash?

Of these, three concern me, but only because of my own personal feelings about them. I've written about them often enough, so I'm not going to repeat myself. You'll notice, though, that I'm talking less about the technology and more about issues.

RFID Roundup - Mon Dec 25/06

More RFID Training Options
A number of RFID courses will be offered in 2007 at Penn State Erie's RFID Center of Excellence. The dates are Jan 17-18, Feb 7, Mar 7-8. They are prep courses for the CompTIA RFID+ certification examination. PRWeb/ Biz Yahoo and RFID Solutions Online have more details. RFID training options are finally popping up all over the place.

McKesson RFID Real-Time Location System
The Spartanburg Regional Medical Center in South Carolina recently installed the Horizon RTLS (Real-Time Location System) from McKesson, a healthcare service provider and technology company. The system will be used to wirelessly monitor the location of over 500 IV (intraveneous) infusion pumps. [via Gen Eng News]

Fish Olympics?
Fish Olympics is a university project (USC Interactive Media) which lets people construct a virtual tropical fish and test it against other creations. There isn't much more info, and the main site is under construction.

Nottingham University Hospital Leverages RFID

An RFID pilot study at NHS (Nottingham University Hospital) Trust is being conducted to achieve three purposes: (1) track medical equipment and manage IT assets; (2) locate emergency staff in real-time; (3) monitor babies. In the latter case, RFID would be used to prevent unauthorized removal of babies from the maternity ward. [via Computing UK] VeriChip's Hugs Infant Protection System is used in a similar manner.

Before this, most of the hospital case studies I've seen only had one application. It appears that hospitals are starting to see enough return in radio frequency technology that they are using it for several applications simultaneously. Some other hospital applications include tracking blood, monitoring bed cleaning, tracking sponges during operations, and monitoring the cleaning of hospital garments. The hospital market for radio frequency technology is expected to reach nearly US$9B by 2010.

RTLS Firm Gets Funding

Real-time location systems (RTLS) company Ekahau announced US$16M in financing earlier in the week. Only $12M is from Series B venture capital. The company's systems work over Wi-Fi networks. The funding would go towards the development of new products. [via RFID Update]

Earlier this year, Ekahau launched a 3G Wi-Fi tag for use in healthcare and other applications. The RTLS market is expected to grow past US$1.6B by 2010. RTLS systems fall into Wi-Fi-based and spectrum-based unlicensed categories. Common applications of RTLS systems are patient monitoring in hospitals and high-value asset tracking.

VeriChip Sticks It To Diabetics With Glucose-Sensing Chip

Digital Angel Corp, sister company of VeriChip - makers of the controversial implantable RFID chip - have come up with more implantable technology. This chip is glucose-sensing, and thus is designed for diabetics. Digital Angel also scored a patent for the chip, which is injectable by syringe.

After the chip is implanted, no typical painful finger pricks are needed to read body glucose level. The implanted chip transmits the information to a scanner. The chips are passive, so no battery is required.

According to the press release, there are 230 million people worldwide with diabetes - a huge market for Digital Angel and VeriChip Corp. It's becoming an epidemic in humans and apparently is also a major disease for livestock.

The armchair scientist in me thinks, "Wow, this is an incredible leap in diabetes management." But the VeriChip skeptic/ cynic in me thinks, "Wow, they figured out a way to 'legitimately' convince more people to implant themselves." My maternal grandfather, when he was alive, was a simple village physician who sometimes got paid in chickens and eggs. He was a humble, honest man. And he was borderline diabetic, as I am too. Yet he never once took any medication for it. He controlled his diet very strictly and managed to keep his diabetes fully in check. I struggle with mine, because I am not as disciplined as he was, but have little trust in allopathic ("Western") medicine, despite my grandfather being a doctor.

I also happen to know more diabetics these days than I've known previously in my entire life. The majority of them have to take daily needles; some take pills, and others, still, have lost limbs or even died in comas. It's a terrible, painful disease that has lots unfortunate side effects, including, sometimes, a weird sense of denial of the situation. Not all diabetics are disciplined enough to take their medication. In fact, up to 50% of patients for any illness do not take their medication as directed.

That said, I'd hate to knock anything that might help diabetics, but as per usual, I am reluctant to willingly accept RFID that is implanted in our bodies, no matter what the purpose. But that's just me. (I'm not a full-blown Luddite; just a hybrid.) There is, however, an NFC (Nearly Field Communications) RFID-based solution for diabetics by NXP (formerly Philips Semiconductors) that does not require a chip to be implanted. Though it does require inserting a small tube into the belly area, and finger-pricking for blood droplets is still part of the daily regimen. Both products are prototoypes and, as I understand it, still require US FDA approval. So it may be a few years to reach the market.

RFID Roundup - Wed Oct 25/06

RFID Cannes-Can
A hospital in Cannes, home of the famous French film festival, is using RFID in their laundry operations to manage hospital garments. Over 36,000 garments use TAGSYS tags that can repeatedly withstand water, heat and chemicals. Other hospitals in the area also send their garments to the same laundry. Information in each tag tells laundry staff where the garment came from and how many are in stock, amongst other things. [via PR Web/ Yahoo News] Hospitals are already using radio frequency tags and systems for patient records management and other applications.

Europeans Wary Of RFID
A survey by the European Commission suggests that over of EU (European Union) citizens are strongly in support of de-activating radio frequency tags on consumer goods at the point of purchase. Two-thirds of survey respondents feel there should be more data protection and privacy legislation, especially if RFID use grows in the EU. This is something the Commission will have to take in account, especially since other research shows big potential in Europe for RF technology, despite the narrow band for RFID tech allocated by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute).

Take The First Step
For those companies not yet using RFID, take some risks and jump in, learn to innovate. For those already using RFID, share your successes in a community fashion. That's the advice from representatives of RFID early-adopter companies like Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble, speaking at the EPCglobal US's third annual user conference. [via RFID Journal]

TNT Logistics Temperature-Sensitive RFID Tags

Medical equipment and supplies often have to maintain a steady temperature. Any relatively significant changes could be fatal for a patient. TNT Logistics (not to be confused with TNT Express, a sister company) has come up with an RFID system to track the temperature of medical products. Said Steve Stine, TNT Asia life science medical industry director:

An increasing number of medical products must be handled and shipped without getting too hot or too cold. Ensuring the precise temperature management of these shipments is therefore crucial as it is a life and death matter for patients who are tested or treated with these high-value products.

Cold chain management and temperature monitoring is also used for pharmaceutical supplies, amongst other things.

[sources: CRM Buyer]

How RFID Affects Religious Beliefs

Margaret Schaut, an RFID Gazette reader, left a comment on the post Brisk sales of RFID livestock tags regarding the Amish community in the state of Indiana. She works directly with the Amish community there, and they brought their concerns to her. The United States is in the process of implementing the NAIS - National Animal Identifcation System. As part of this program, all livestock animals will be tagged for identification with several intentions including controlling diseased animals.

Several states in the USA also have their own programs - likely as a supplement to NAIS. According to an article that Margaret has posted at her Amish Community page at Squidoo, the Amish farmers were told by the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) that they have to be enrolled in a three-phase program starting Sept 1st, which has already passed. Under the new rules, a number of types of "farm animals, defined as cattle, bison, swine, sheep, goats, and captive deer or elk, must be entered into the electronic database."

Non-compliance means a $1,000 per day fine, although the BOAH says that their intention is to help meat producers register, in order aid disease identification. Margaret Schaut concludes by saying, "The Amish have historically and consistently resisted certain government impositions that violate their religious convictions." The Amish also have a concern that people will eventually be tagged.

This is a situation that, honestly, had not occurred to me. I only know a little about the Amish culture, and my understandting is that certain devices (possibly just electric devices or similar) are not part of their lifestyle, are banned for use by community members. That of course creates a huge dilemma in a country that values freedom of religious practice.

Will the US or state governments make an exception in such cases? If they do, there may be conditions that mean the Amish cannot sell their livestock without the tags, and thus will lose a portion of their livelihood. Comments on older articles at this site suggest that some people feel that NAIS will spell the end of the small family and hobby farms.

Gemalto Gets Oman Id Card Deal

The Sultanate of Oman will be receiving 2.5M smart ID cards from Gemalto for the country's national ID card program. It's the first program of it's kind in the Middle East and will begin at the end of the year. The cards will be used for both public service as well as for homeland security - in particular, to build a National Registry System, to be managed by the Royal Oman Police force. All of this is an extension of a program that began in early 2004. As part of this program, electronic gates have already been installed at the country's border. More details at Secure ID News.

Oman is simply one more country to the growing list (UK, Malaysia, China, etc.) that have either already started a National ID program or are about to.

10 Types of People Who Should Be RFID-Tagged (And 5 Not)

Image: by ishmell/ amal graafstra.

If you've been following along pretty much anywhere in the media, Radio frequency identification technology is the subject of huge controversy. In no particular order, camp 1 created the technology and has an agenda based on business need to promote it. Camp 2 thinks it's evil. Camp 3 doesn't know any better. Camp 4 is the government and is subdivided on what to do. Camp 5 doesn't care. Anyone else? Probably lots of middle-grounders.

The biggest controversy is the issue of whether there is actually a conspiracy afoot to tag all human beings. Well, it's not even a conspiracy. Companies like Verichip have been openly pushing their agenda to tag anyone they can get away with and even recently suggested to the US government that soldiers in the military be RFID-tagged. Like common household pets and livestock. There are also reports that prisoners in some European countries have already been implanted subdermally with RFID chips against their consent, and there is talk of doing the same in the US.

I say, bring it on. But let's have a trial run first. Here are my ten candidates for RFID microchipping, in no particular order:

1. The Presidents of the United States. I don't mean just G.W.B., but all presidents who take the Office. They represent the populace and should be accountable to each and every citizen. And really the only way that's possible is to implant an RFID chip in them.
2. Every head of state in every country. If they belong to the United Nations, like the US, then they should be chipped as well, for the same reason.
3. Every politician, especially those of the party that holds the House majority during an administration.
4. Visitors to Camp David. Don't we have a right to know? (Detecting a theme here?)
5. Every CEO of every tech company whose technology potentially invades a citizen's privacy, especially those pushing the ideology that we should all be tagged like animals. Hey, turnabout is fair play. Heck, every CEO and board member period? Doesn't Sarbanes-Oxley maybe stretch just enough to cover that? Surely Hewlett-Packard chairwoman Patricia Dunn wouldn't have had to illegally obtain phone records if she knew where everyone was.
6. Law enforcement officers, especially government ones such as in the FBI and the CIA. Or maybe just them because police officers are the ones doing the real law enforcement work. And while we're at it, we can embed a secure-communication device into agents' wrists.
7. Lawyers, especially criminal lawyers. And maybe even Attorney Generals. Why not, right?
8. Outside postal workers. Hey, what if one of them falls into a snowbank and our mail doesn't get delivered?
9. Athletes, especially those being paid multi-millions per season, including soccer players?
10. Hollywood stars. Just because, and with hybrid RFID/GPS tracking devices. I mean, wouldn't you like to be able to get on a website and see where your fave celebrity is? While we're at it, lets tag the members of Supernova, too, especially Tommy Lee and their new monkey boy, winner Lukas Rossi.

Hmmm. Three categories of politician. Of course, there are those who just want to be microchipped (watch for a follow up to this post). But other than them, here are 5 types of people who shouldn't be microchipped:

1. Your children. I mean, really. Do you believe the crap that your newborn baby needs to implanted with an RFID chip for protection? Past research shows that over 90% of kidnappings are perpetrated by a disgruntled parent after a divorce or separation. To be resolved, this situation doesn't require every newborn baby in the country being microchipped like Fido.
2. Ex-politicians. When a politician retires from office, their chip should be removed. (And their memory downloaded. How's that for accountability?) But that excludes senators, governors, and presidents. Why? Just because. Let's see how they feel about invasion of privacy issues after the fact.
3. Ex-law enforcement officers. Why not. If they aren't representing the country any longer, why should they be chipped?
4. Pretty much everyone else, with the exception maybe of dangerous criminals. Again, really. Do you really want to be microchipped like an animal? Do you sense any common threads here?
5. Dogs and cats. They're people, too, right? Okay, I'm stretching things just a little.

So basically, the government has it backwards. It's not the private citizen who needs to be RFID-tagged, it's the public figure whose salary is paid by us, the private citizen.

RFID Roundup - Fri Sep 08/06

Upcoming RFID Events
Using RFID has a list of several upcoming RFID-related events, expos and conferences.

RFID Helps Childrens' Hospital Track Medical Equipment
University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital is finding great benefit, as specified in the journal Congenital Cardiology Today, in using a cabinet-based RFID system to track the use of high-cost equipment such as stents, catheters and guidewires. The cabinet system is called iRISupply and is made by Mobile Aspects, Inc.

Asset tracking and management is just one of the ways that hospitals are using RFID technology in the healthcare industry.

Tracking Travellers With RFID Plane Tickets
British scientists have come up with a way to track travellers in airports using a combination of RFID-enabled plane tickets and CCTV cameras. The project, called Optag, is being funded by the European Union, and the positive spin is that it could help steer late passengers to the right departure gate, as well help speed up the boarding of the larger planes, some of which hold up to 700 passengers.

Healthcare: Taiwan's Textiles Are RFID-Enhanced

The Taiwanese textile industry is experimenting with technologies and using RFID and solar panels in clothing. Part of the purpose of this hybrid technology is to enable sensors in the clothing to monitor measures such as heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature. RFID technology transmits this information back to a hospital computer system, although it's not clear whether a wearer needs to enter a hospital or visits some sort of data reader kiosk.The Taiwain Textile Research Institute has also managed to embed small, flexible solar panels into a leather jacket. The panels apparently generate enough energy to run a digtal music player. [via InfoWorld]

This is not the first time that RFID has been inserted into clothing, with one purpose being to prevent child abductions. Other purposes of RFID with clothing are for retail security tags and to retain item details.

RFID Opportunities In Health Care and Life Sciences

IdTechEx predicts that there will be RFID opportunities [RFID Update] in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in the smart packaging of drugs. Apparently, up to 50% of patients do not use their medication as directed.

Just an educated guess, but if you wanted to invest in RFID, buy shares in a company that will be providing chips for pharmaceutical use. While the industry only has to start complying by Dec 1 for specific drugs, there's still the possibility that the FDA eventualy will expect the use of RFID to pedigree all drugs. I don't have the numbers handy, but that's a lot of bottles/ containers and thus a lot of un-reused RFID tags.

While the IDTechEx research indicates that RFID in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry will reach US$2.1 B  annually by 2016, Health Industry Insights reports that the total demand in life sciences [RFID Journal] will be nearly $15 B by 2009. This includes the sales of such items as RFID-enabled diabetes management devices.

RFID Roundup - Mon Sep 04/06

CMP Technology RFID Applications Event: Hospital and Healthcare
Washington, D.C., will be hosting a CMP Technology event for RFID in hospitals and healthcare. The event runs Sep 21-22 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City just outside Washington. Areas of application focus include inventory control, identification, supply chain management, and more. Event details and registration instructions are available at RFID World. Other RFID events are listed at RFID World, including RFID Germany (October) and RFID World 2007 Dallas (March 27-29, 2007).

Fast Food, Fast Contactless Payment
It appears that more fast food businesses are accepting payments via RFID-enabled contactless key fobs. My observation is that such key fobs first started being used for payments at gas pumps. Later - or possibly simultaneously - consumers could pay for items in the convenience stores you find at gas stations. Now contactless payment has spread out to other businesses including select Smoothie King and McDonalds stores. Some of these businesses will also be accepting payment with Wells Fargo contactless payment cards.

RFID Industry Acquisitions: Acuity ID and Organic ID
  There have been a number of acquisitions in the RFID industry lately, with more to follow. Barcoding Inc recently purchased Acuity LLC, and forestry products giant Weyerhaeuser bought Organic ID. RFID Ltd is preparing to acquire up to four radio frequency technology companies, none of which have been named yet. Other companies in the industry, such as BEA, are focusing on software acquisitions.

RFID In Healthcare: Diabetes Management Device

With diabetes becoming an epidemic in many countries, due to a sedentary lifestyle full of rich food, the demand for insulin is likely to grow. Several of the diabetics I know find that having a busy life means running the risk of not administering their dosage at the right time or in the right amounts - with potentially fatal consequences. To help combat some of the difficulties of managing diabetes, a prototype insulin pump system using RFID-based NFC (Near Field Communication) technology has been developed.

The system, built jointly by Cambridge Consultants and Philips Semiconductors (now known as NXP) consists of an insulin pump and glucometer as separate devices that communicate with each other using NFC wireless transmission. As per a typical glucometer, a drop of blood has to be place on a test strip. The glucometer will determine the appropriate dosage of insulin, which the user can decide to accept or reject. If s/he accepts, the glucometer is waved near the insulin pump. Both devices have an NFC chip. The pump applies insulin via a catheter.

This is, in my opinion, a brilliant application of RFID, reducing some of the difficulties that diabetics have in managing the disease. I'm hoping to see more such applications in the area of healthcare. It'd be interesting if someone could combine some of the ideas in this system with VitaCraft's RFID-enabled cookware, to come up controlled recipes for diabetics.

Sources: [RFID Journal via RFID Blog, RFID Weblog]

Michigan Tags Cattle With RFID

With cattle rustlers able to make as much as $20,000 in one hit, and RFID tags helping cattle ranchers in Texas and Oklahoma recently recover around 5,200 head of cattle, it's not suprising that the State of Michigan has passed a cattle tagging law. Under the new law, which took effect in March 2006, the new electronic ear tags will be the only officially-recognized identification. The US$1 tags will not only help keep track of cattle, but help in monitor diseases by allowing easier segregation of infected animals. Texan and Oklahoman ranchers have recovered millions of dollars worth of cattle because of RFID tags.

While only a tiny percentage of cattle are tagged, interest in tagging livestock in general is growing for a variety of reasons, including preventing the Mad Cow disease scares of a few years ago, as well as other ailments.As such, a number of companies such as TekVet, and ScoringAg are starting to offer livestock-tracking solutions. Warrnambool Livestock Exchange in Australia even uses an RFID system in their trading yard.

So hungry rustlers thwarted in Texas might just want to move to Michigan before all the cattle there are tagged. Look for those head with just the old orange metal tags, instead of the new ear tags.

Future Opportunities: RFID Law

Given all the concern about RFID in terms of security and privacy issues, it's not surprising that the Australian DHS (Dept of Human Services) hire the law firm of Minter Ellison to act as a legal advisor for the planned smartcard project. Under this new program, to start in 2008, citizens will have access to health and social services. The firm has previous experience with technology projects. [via Web Wereld] While there's no issue of implantation of RFID chips, this is still a good idea.

This is something that all young wanna-be lawyers should note. While articles from 2004 indicate that US alone will have 4 million lost jobs due to RFID, there will be new jobs created. One area will be in the area of technology law in the near future - and I wouldn't doubt, patent law, civil liberties, etc. This includes both RFID (radio frequency identification) and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technologies. I'm predicting this not only because I write a lot about technology, but my research shows that there will be a severe shortage of skilled workers in RFID.

The result of this, I feel, is that many companies will rush into implementation with out an appropriate project analysis phase, and without skilled consultants. Result? Lawsuits in the area of privacy and security, in particular. Unfortunate but very likely.

For more information about law and RFID, I'll recommend RFID Law Blog.

Mississippi Blood Services RFID Trial

Mississippi Blood Services is using RFID for inventory management and other purposes. The organization recently completed a trial run, using equipment from Texas Instruments,as a test to replace their current manual procedure of scanning bar codes on blood bags while under sub-freezing temperatures. [via RFID Solutions Online, Mississippi Business Journal]

The manual procedure puts a bag of blood through three steps that could take hours before the bag ships. So RFID is a boon in this scenario, automating the procedure, saving time, and reducing the chances that the blood is unusable. The MBS indicates that despite the reduction in labor, jobs are not being cut back.

MBS is not the first healthcare-related organization to use RFID for tracking blood. The Saarbruecken Clinic in Germany and the Ospedale Maggiore in Bologna, Italy are doing so as well. Such a use of RFID should be widespread, and might help prevent  future nightmare situations like the tainted blood scandal that Canadian Red Cross went through not so long ago.

VDC: Increasing Market For RFID Transponders

VDC, Venture Development Corporation, announced that the global for market for RFID transponders, in 2005, reached nearly US$750 M. Expected CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) through 2010 is estimated at about 26%. Revenue shipments will likely exceed US$2.3 B within five years time.

A statistic of note is the expected increase in difference between indirect and direct channels of distribution for RFID transponders. Indirect channels will grow at increased rate over direct channels. This is due to the increasing number of RFID solutions providers, particularly for the retail and pharmaceutical supply chains.

What might also drive an increase, at least temporarily, is that the US FDA has mandated that the pharmaceutical industry provide an RFID pedigreeing solution for select drugs by the beginning of Dec 2006, and that the industry is judged by some to be scrambling to meet that goal. The FDA's original plan to have all drugs RFID tagged by early 2007 has been postponed.

More information about the transponder market is available for purchase at the VDC website.

RFID Roundup - Wed Aug 2/06

Are things really this bad in Australia with their Aus$1.1 billion RFID smartcard project? Well, if it IS like this where I live, I'd prefer a picture of my cat on my healthcard, thank you.

On the other hand, another trial in Australia is showing that RFID is producing benefits in the CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) supply chain. Participants include Procter & Gamble and Gillette (now owned by P&G). The trial uses EPCGlobal's network. [via RFID Journal]

A Canadian Crown Corporation (i.e., a for-profit, government-owned corporation, but presumably owned by the citizenry) has been using RFID for several months for functional analysis, and the project will now be rolled out with the help of Ship2Save and AAID Security Solutions. [via XTVWorld]

Everton Stadium is introducing their new Everton RFID-enabled smartcard for regular use starting Thur, Aug 3/06. To promote use of the card, holders get loyalty points for its use. [via Paddock Talk] I'm not 100% sure from the article, but I believe that this is a soccer stadium in England.

First soccer and then NASCAR racing, now golf. Besides the RFID-enabled golf balls that an American company is offering, an exclusive golf club near London is using RFID to ensure that only members use the course. The use of RFID was implemented primarily to allow the club to continue its practice of show-and-play for members. That is, no tee-off time needs to be booked, unless a player is a guest. [via RFID Journal]

What is ZigBee's Relationship to RFID?

[Updated July 27th] If you've watched Star Trek, you're familiar with some of the technological features, particularly crew member location. Someone asks the computer for the location of a certain crew member, and the computer queries their badge, then responds. Well thanks to ZigBee, that ability is now close to reality. At least the location-tracking ability, if not the the voice-operated ability.

ZigBee is a wireless protocol built upon IEEE 802.15.4 and is related to several other wireless protocols. It's particularly useful for setting up WPANs (Wireless Personal Area Networks) of SEDs (Service Enabled Devices). Essentially, Zigbee allows enabled "appliances" to talk to each other, regardless of manufacturer. This has many uses in RFID applications.

The ZigBee protocol provides a low-speed, low-power communication for devices that need to communicate wirelessly within a 10-meter (33-foot) range (i.e., a WPAN). WPAN clusters can be connected together to extend that range.

There are three frequencies that provide different bit transfer rates. The most commonly used frequency is 2.4 Ghz, which provides 250 kbps (kilobits per second). Other shorter-wave frequencies offer lower transfer rates. This protocol allows communication with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other wireless networks as well.

ZigBee is not an alternative for RFID, but is rather a network platform, enabling RFID devices to communicate with each other as well as other networked devices.

This ability of ZigBee is being demonstrated at Saint Luke's East-Lee's Summit Hospital in Lee's Summit, Missouri, part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The trials there allow hospital staff to locate patients wearing RFID-enabled badges. RFID readers query for badges, and if any are present, transmit signals over the ZigBee WPAN network. The system has allowed doctors, nurses, and other staff to find patients, on different floors, with a high degree of accuracy.

These results bode well. Besides closed systems such as unwired hospitals, a similar  RFID + ZigBee setup could be used by miners or any environment where the safety of individuals is enhanced by non-intrusive tracking methods.

Additional sources:  [Expert Answer Center, IEEE WPAN projects, Network World]

Note: As per RFBase's comment below, this is a correction. The ZigBee capabilities demonstrated at St Luke's Hospital consists of the RFID tags inside patient badges querying for RF transceivers and communicating via ZigBee. There are no RFID readers, per se, and thus these do not communicate over a WPAN network, as indicated above.

Apologies for the error. Thanks to RFBase for the heads up.

RFID - I've Got You Under My Skin

I Am Not A Number - Part #Who's Counting

[With apologies to Frank "Ol' Blue Eyes" Sinatra] Legislation in Wisconsin and other states against the forced implantation of RFID chips in humans hasn't stopped projects like Hackensack University Medical Center's 2-year voluntary RFID implant trials in New Jersey.

The study is being paid for by an insurance company, and they're looking for 300 volunteers, preferably with chronic conditions. Per-person costs are about $80/m and $200 for RFID chips, although there is no indication that volunteers get compensated. The idea is to determine if the implants reduce health care costs by eliminating misdiagnoses, etc.

VeriChip Corp, a company seemingly pushing for subcutaneous RFID implants in as many people as possible, is supplying chips and readers to 100 hospitals across the US, including Hackensack. VeriChip Corp are the company whose parent company's CEO, Scott Silverman, suggested that VeriChip RFID tags be used to track immigrants, guest workers, and illegal workers. They also have an "infant protection solution" which involves implanting an RFID chip in babies. Currently, their chips are being used in the identification of the deceased around Mississipi, from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Silverman has publicly claimed he would get an RFID implant himself but indications are that he has yet to do so.

Given that other hospital studies are using RFID-enabled, durable bracelets, these RFID implant studies rarely give a certifiably valid reason for implantation. The reasons given are flawed, in my scientifically-backed opinion, and that of many others who don't want to be turned into a number. If you haven't figured it out from my previous ramblings, the scientist in me loves the concept of RFID and has much hope for RFID and its applications. But I wildly oppose the use of RFID implantation. So when VeriChip goes IPO soon, I'll be buying as many shares as possible :)

Preventing Surgical Boo-Boos With RFID

Twenty-five years ago, when my physician told me that the surgeon who had just operated on my knee had left a loose piece of ligament, I was more than peeved at the problems it might cause me later in life. Technology probably could not have helped that situation, but it could have helped prevent all of the scalpels and sponges the very same surgeon had left in other people's knees, and been sued for. RFID is just such a technology.

A test run at Stanford Medical Center in California has produced 100% read rates on specially-designed RFID tags used on sponges. These tags are designed to withstand the sterilization process that surgery equipment goes through.

The current method of checking that objects have not been left in people's bodies is for O.R. nurses to count all items before and after a surgery. Unfortunately, with the intense pressure in an operating room, stuff like sponges and scalpels do get left behind. According to the Stanford report, about 1500 objects per year are left inside patients after surgery.

That's a small percentage of the total number of surgeries conducted each year, but the mistake can cause health problems. Besides avoiding such problems, using RFID tags can obviously also reduce litigation cases.

But some doctors at other hospitals aren't buying into it, saying that the RFID tag is too costly for the number of sponges used by hospitals daily. However, an older Stanford document shows that the average cost of non-surgical sponges per surgery cost $68.24 compared to $71.06 for the RFID sponges. Their conclusion was that, based on "quality-adjusted-life-years" (QALYs), the RFID sponges were worth the cost. (The CRM/ Newsday article points out that two of the authors of the primary paper are also holders of RFID patents used in the study.)

Given that objects left behind after surgery can cause death in extreme cases and infections or discomfort in lesser cases, not to mention litigation, it seems a few dollars extra would be worth it.

Hospitals have been using RFID for several applications, including monitoring a patient's fall, as well as ensuring that patient data files do not get mixed up in hospital rooms or the O.R., thus resulting in doctors performing the wrong surgery.

Coronis, DHS develop RFID-based monitoring unit for healthcare unit

Two French companies, Coronis Systems and Data Health System (DHS) S.A have joined forces to develop a RFID-based monitoring system to inform the healthcare workers when a patient falls.

After conducting a series of tests at the Montpellier University Hospital in France and City of Paris Center for Social Action, the two companies launched Ynolis, the monitoring system. The monitoring system integrates DHS' detection bracelets with Coronis' wireless network Wavenis. The patient is provided with a bracelet bearing a unique ID. The ID is linked with the patient's name in a database. Coronis' wireless chip transmits data regarding the patient's condition to a reader or access point equipped with algorithms.

The director of strategic marketing at Coronis, Chirstophe Dugas remarks,

If the algorithm detects a fall because the change was major, the reader sends that information, along with the ID of the bracelet, to the central unit.

Via: [RFid Journal]

Pharma industry associations back FDA

Pharmaceutical industry associations have backed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) June 9 report on RFID's use in the pharmaceutical industry.

The report entitled 'FDA Counterfeit Drug Task Force Report: 2006 Update', contains suggestions for building a more secure and safe pharmaceutical industry supply chain management. The task force has been investigating RFID technology and the concept of e-pedigree for more than two years.

Pharmaceutical industry associations like the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA) are ready to accept the recommendations of the Task Force. They believe that RFID technology is significant for securing the pharmaceutical supply chain.   In the report, FDA has suggested the industries to move forward to adopt the RFID technology without making it mandatory for the time being.

Via: [RFid Blog]

HDMA supports FDA for Prescription Drug Marketing Act

The Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA) backs the FDA’s decision to lift the stay on the Prescription Drug Marketing Act (PDMA).

FDA will be able to ensure patient safety, prescription drug integrity and supply chain security by enforcing the final rule on December 1, 2006.

John Gray, president and CEO at HDMA stated:

We have zero tolerance for criminals who counterfeit patient medicines, and we commend the FDA for moving forward with implementation of the PDMA Final Rule. It is very important step to introduce drug-sell tracking. Therefore, HDMA will work with the FDA.

He further commented:

We commend the FDA for proactively holding workshops to gather critical information from across the healthcare industry to make this important decision. Additionally we support FDA's focus on prioritizing pedigree enforcement efforts and its recommendation for continued industry leadership on technology advancements.

Via prnewswire

SupplyScape has now RFID Visionaries in its Board of Advisors

RFID visionaries Bill Hubbard, Paul Rudolf and Jack DeAlmo are now in the board of advisors of SupplyScape, the company pioneered in RFID-based drug supply chain security solutions. Bill Hubbard is the former FDA senior associate commissioner. He is well known for his teaching to government officials on America's healthcare policies.

Paul Rudolf, former FDA associate commissioner for policy, has played a dominating role in the FDA's RFID initiative and co-authored the agency's Combating Counterfeit Drugs report. Jack DeAlmo, ex-vice president of CVS charted usage of RFID in the pharmaceutical distribution industry. With three dynamic professionals joining SupplyScape Corporation, the company's effort to enhance its networking is bound to get a major boost.

Via: [RFid News]

'RFID for Pharmaceuticals 2006' in August

A conference on 'RFID for Pharmaceuticals 2006' will be held on 1st and 2nd of August 2006, in Philadelphia, USA. The two-day forum will discuss the usage of RFID technology because of FDA mandates pressure from competition and changes in law. 

A number of recognized RFID technology developers will take part in the conference. The Pharmaceutical industries will get first hand information about the latest technology by coming in contact with the industries, which have successfully implemented the RFID technology.   The forum will also conduct case studies detailing how to overcome barrier, gain corporate buy-in, and achieve ROI quickly. 

Via: [Using RFID]

Jena University Hospital to adopt RFID solutions of SAP

The University Hospital of Jena has announced that it will install the RFID solutions of SAP. The announcement came at the International Forum of Healthcare held in Frankfurt, Germany.

With this agreement, the Jena university Hospital is now getting itself ready to function on the SAP Netweaver platform, which provides result oriented RFID services. The hospital will exploit the RFID solution of SAP to identify, track and match medication accurately and real time locations of hospital's pharmacy.   It has decided to utilize passive tags to monitor 24 beds initially. Then, it will extend the applications of RFID tags to another 65 treatment units.

Via: [RFID Blog]

Solstice Medical team up with Northern Apex-RFID

Solstice Medical, LLC has teamed up with Northern Apex-RFID for the development, manufacturing and integration of RFID technology. After signing the deal, Solstice Medical, LLC, CEO Daniel Sands commented,

Northern Apex-RFID is recognized and respected as an innovator and leading solutions integrator in RFID technology. We are very excited about the synergies and market value that will result from the combined strengths of our two companies and their ability to support our total asset lifecycle management system, called Dock-to-DocTM.

The agreement will benefit both the companies. Northern Apex-RFID, which has held the reputation for its innovative and target oriented RFID solutions will able to enhance its networking in high technology medical applications. Michael Westrick, chief technology officer with Solstice Medical quoted, 'By combining the extensive medical device and radio frequency (RF) design experience of Solstice Medical with Northern Apex's RFID development and integration expertise, Solstice Medical is now able to offer proven RFID performance in adverse conditions common in the medical device manufacturing and hospital environments'.

Via: [Inside Indiana Business]

Orion Pharma ends RFID Trial

Orion Pharma and Stora Enso have ended the trial use of RFID technology from February to April. The leading Finnish drug manufacturer Orion Pharma and packing company Stora Enso used RFID technology to track and verify individual bottles of drugs. Satisfied with the trial, Orion Pharma plans to implement item-level tagging.

The supply chain planning manager at Orion Pharma, Jukka Pietila explains that the trial enabled them to gain some experience with the technology. Orion used HF RFID tags on individual containers and EPC Gen 2 UHF RFID tags on multiple containers during the trial. The drug manufacturer got expected results. It is now preparing to explore this latest technology.

Via: [RFID Journal]

Now hospital bed cleaning with RFID solution

In an effort to improve the installment and cleaning hospital beds, the municipal hospitals in Bielefeld will very soon adopt the RFID technology. Siemens Business Service and Joh.Stiegelmeyer GmbH & Co. KG are jointly handling the RFID project. Joh. Stiegelmeyer GMbH & Co. KG is one of the leading hospital bed manufacturers while Siemens Business Service has spearheaded in IT based solutions.

This is the first major RFID pilot project in Germany. Under the pilot project, UHF RFID transponders will be attached to hospital beds, with numbering. The beds integrated with RFID chips will provide data to RFID readers placed at the ward's entry and exit doors. The central bed preparation unit has also a reader. Data regarding the exact time of bed cleaning is known from the bed preparation unit. Then it provides necessary work instructions.

Via: [More RFID]

Report: Healthcare RFID market has bright prospective

The healthcare RFID market has bright prospective in the coming days. Surely, it will attract the RFID developers to make a score in this front. The Research and Markets report predicts potentiality in the healthcare RFID market. It empathetically mentioned that the healthcare RFID market would experience steady growth for next 10 years by now.   In its 249-page report, Research and Markets predicted that healthcare RFID will grow from 3 percent to 8 percent of the total RFID market. This is mainly due to the development of advanced RFID technologies to tag drugs for anti-counterfeiting and RTL of staff, patients and other medical equipments.

Research and Markets took utmost care in preparing the report. It followed 70 case studies, consulted leading RFID developers, contacted a number of users and covered countries like Japan Korea, Singapore, India, Australia, UK, Germany , Ireland, Italy, France, Israel and the USA .

Via: [RFID Blog]

FDA likely to set deadline before Drug Companies on RFID

The Food and Drug Administration will put pressure on drug industries as they are lingering in using RFID tags to check drug counterfeiting.

The Prescription Drug Marketing Act of 1987 directs the companies to follow track and trace program. However the companies were excused as there was not a reliable technology to monitor the program. With the increasing use of RFID technology in pharmaceutical sector, the FDA in 2004 gave a ruling that the drug industries must use the RFID technology by 2007. But it seems that the drug companies are not acting on the verdict. So the FDA is likely set a deadline before the drug manufacturers.

Via: [Information Week]

SureID Uses RFID to check incorrect dispensing drugs

SureID has developed RFID technology supported PharmaSure application to check theft and incorrect dispensing drugs. This technology will be helpful for the pharmaceutical sector in the US where the report says 17 percent of prescriptions are filled incorrectly.

SureID's PharmaSure application is yet to come to the market. It is in the testing stage. It is being trialed in three US pharmacies. Pfizer keeps detail account of the test.

Already specialized in applying biometrics, SureID plans to exploit RFID technology for medical purposes. PharmaSure application, the SureID developed carries RFID technology to determine the originality of drug. PharmaSure application has a system in which RFID tags are attached to drug bottles. The RFID tags will determine what drugs to be given for a particular prescription.

Via: [RFID Journal]

RFID is on increase in Health-care market

The use of RFID technology in the health-care market is on a rampant. IDTechEx in its report "RFID in Healthcare 2006-16" says that the global market for RFID tags and systems in health care will increase steadily from $90 million this year to $2.1billion by 2016.

Item-level tagging of drugs is the major factor for the growth of RFID technology in health care sector.

US Food and Drug Administration is conducting a study regarding RFID to combat drug counterfeiting. The report will be released later this month. The agency is expected to make some recommendations how to stop drug counterfeiting. Ultimately that would boost pharmaceutical RFID. 10 companies are likely to use RFID trials next year.

Another factor boosting RFID's growth in the health care industry is the Real Time Locating Systems popularly known as RTLS. There are two kinds of RTLS systems, Zonal (cell ID) systems and Wi-Fi networks. Zonal systems usually operate at 433 MHz or 2.45 GHz while Wi-Fi operates at 2.45 GHz.

RTLS has many advantages for the Medical Sector. It can be put in use to monitor hospital assets, staffs and patients.

The health sector will be greatly benefited from the RFID technology.

Via: [RFID Journal]

Usage of RFID in hospitals on the rise

The latest study from Independent research group IDTechEx informs us that the global market for RFID tags in healthcare/hospitals will rise from $90m at present to $2.1bn over the next ten years.

Would it too fanciful to imagine that RFID may help reduce exorbitant healthcare costs? After all, hospital management everywhere are using RFID tagging to prevent errors, cut operating costs and increase security by automating procedures, ensuring correct patient medication and speeding up hospital administration. Lessening errors also help save lives. Hospitals use RFID to locate staff and patients using RFID-based Real Time Locating Systems. They will also tag drugs.

Via VNUNet

How RFID will change health care

RFID and Nanotechlogy together given speed to a new branch of science called "Pharmacogenomics" which in layman terms means that the age of designer drugs is dawning upon us.

In Pharmacogenomics, doctors customize drugs to a person's unique genetic makeup and medical condition. These "designer drugs" can revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry by reducing the cost and length of clinical trials.

Where do the RFID tags come in the picture? RFID tags help doctors match medications to patients. This can eliminate cases of "transfusion confusion" and medical errors.

Via IT Business CA

The Drug industry still too complacent about RFID

The virus-RFID exploits by researchers in Belgium continue to generate concern. Virus-infected tags can bring much damage to the Drug Industry where drug counterfeiting is rampant.

The latest article in In-Pharma Technologist explores the dangers of infected tags in much detail.

 

There are three main ways in which RFID middleware can be exploited; buffer overflows, which are the most common and occur as a result of improper use of computer language, inserting a malicious code and SQL injection that tricks the system's database.

… to prevent RFID exploits, the middleware should be bug free and not allow SQL injection, buffer overflow, and similar attacks.

Via in-Pharma Technologist

MAGNET healthcare group to distribute Zebra's RFID solutions

Did you know that, according to the Institute of Medicine, more than 7,000 deaths occur each year owing to medication related errors in hospitals?

The MAGNET Inc. is a healthcare group purchasing organization (GPO) which serves more than 700 hospitals.

The group has entered into a deal with RFID Company Zebra Technologies to supply Zebra's thermal printers, supplies and service agreements to its client hospitals. It is a three-year contract and is already in effect from Aprl1.

Via PRNewswire

Rfid can help stop drug counterfeiting, but…

Did you know that Drug counterfeiting costs the Food and Drug Administration in the United States more than $30 billion annually? 

RFID tags can help track what the industry calls "drug pedigrees". This is a special terminology for documenting a drug's record stating that the company manufactured and distributed the drug under secure conditions. RFID can help create electronic or 'e-pedigree.'

All this is fine but there are two obstacles. First, creating and enforcing a law to force all pharmaceutical companies to use RFID in creating 'e-pedigree' takes time. Second, the task of attaching each product unit to a unique electronic serial number for efficient tracking, will no doubt take an awful lot of time initially

Via Contactless News

The world's first human Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) implant

Verichip, the developer and patent-holder of the trend-setting medical microchip technology, says that the world's first human Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) implant helps monitor more than 2,000 people worldwide.

This is an interesting piece of news but it also raises security issues. Citizens who are already resentful of increasing attempts by governments everywhere to monitor them, are going to be alarmed by this.

However, Verichip says that the RFID impant technology helps doctors track high-risk patients suffering from serious diseases as diabetes, epilepsy and Alzheimer's. Patients with chronic heart conditions can also be easily monitored.

Via Manufacturing.net

The 'RFID in Hospital' Market will boom to $8.8billion by 2010

That's the conclusion of  the latest guide from Research and Markets.

Titled "RFID & Emerging Technologies Guide to Healthcare", the report says that RFID and its related technologies in the hospital marketplace will reach $8.8 billion by 2010; and that it will be segmented into three general categories:

FID Driven Revenue: Hardware and software integration $1.3 billion.

-- Infrastructure Support for RFID Enablement: Wireless networks--$1.3 billion, Enterprise-related software -- $1.4 billion.

-- Hospital Connectivity: $4.8 billion.

via [RFidBlog]

Solihull and Birmingham expand RFid tag trials

Birmingham Heart of England and Solihull NHS Trust are expanding its trial of tagging patients about to undergo surgery with RFid wristbands. Patients are given RFid tags which are linked to an electronic patient record. Surgeons have to scan the tags and verify identity using a digital photograph of the patient stored on their electronic patient record. The tag can also be used for recording pre-operative checking and making sure that risk assessment has been doe before the patient enters theatre.

According to Rosie Winterton, health minister

This electronic tagging may be used in the future as both a preventative measure and to monitor the whereabouts of key pieces of medical equipment.

via [E-Health Insider]

German hospital uses RFID to track blood

Blood bank supplies at Saarbruecken Clinic from now onwards will be equipped with RFID chips so to prevent any confusion or mix ups in regard to blood transfusion and blood treatments. In a joint effort Siemens, Intel, Fujitsu and IMP Computersysteme will continue with the research at Saarbruecken Clinic. In the first phase, almost thousand bags of bloods are being labeled. The solution makes it sure that correct blood is given to each patient. Siemens is acting as the major contractor for the project.          

Via [RfidJournal]

RFid technology to be implemented in Bangkok Hospital

Bangkok Hospital is planning to implement RFid in order to improve the level of security for its patients. RFid would be fully implemented in the current year. Bangkok Hospital believes that RFid would serve as a prospective tool in ensuring that there are no medical errors during treatment. RFid based wristband would be issued to patients which would carry information about his name, age, sex, drugs and the dosage to be administered. It will ensure easier and faster identification of patients so as to strengthen the level of care and administer drugs safely and easily.

via [RFidblog]

RFID heats up Pharma industry

The pharmaceutical industry is experiencing the implementation of RFID with it being adopted by Pfizer and West Pharmaceutical Services. FDA has already released the guidelines and recommendations for implementing RFID in America in order to prevent counterfeit drugs. With around 10 billion units being shipped from drug manufacturers to doctors, hospitals and pharmacies in the United States and Europe, the potential for application of RFID in the pharmaceutical industry is tremendous. With Pfizer spending $ five million on RFID and other drug companies also investing in implementing it, there is bound to be a drastic drop in counterfeit drugs cases.

SupplyScape Corporation launches pharma industry’s first RxAuthentication Service

In order to curb fake drugs SupplyScape Corporation launched the SupplyScape RxAuthentication Service. This is for the first time that the serial number of every pharmaceutical package referred to as Electronic Product Code or EPC could be authenticated before being distributed to American consumers. This service makes use of RFID tags to store the EPC information of the drug which can be verified by wholesalers and pharmacies through the Internet.
This move in the pharma industry was necessary as drug pirates were becoming highly sophisticated and were quite easily able to hack the legal drug supply chain.

[Read more]

Pfizer ready with RFID tags to take on Viagra pirates

Starting December 15 Pfizer has started affixing RFID tags to all U.S. shipments of Viagra in order to counter fake pills. This move which is first of it’s kind by Pfizer has resulted in tagging of all bottles of Viagra. The reason for only choosing Viagra for affixing RFID tags was because it was the major target of counterfeiting. RFID was chosen for Viagra as it is difficult to duplicate and it can be easily read but there are certain drawbacks of RFID since it is a new technology and is not cost effective. Pfizer has persisted with RFID since the benefits are much more as compared to the tens of millions of dollars the company loses as a result of fake drugs.

Read more

 

Pharma investments in RFID to grow

According to Frost and Sullivan, the investments by pharmaceutical companies in RFID will reach $ 2.3 billion by 2011. FDA recommendations regarding the use of RFID to tackle spurious drugs will play a major role in the adoption of RFID by the pharmaceutical industry. The business of counterfeit pharmaceuticals is expected to be worth $ 75 billion by 2010. Pharmaceutical companies in the US and Europe are already conducting pilots with RFID. in-pharmatechnologist.com reports:

"There is a significant focus on using RFID in pharmaceutical manufacturing because of the FDA's interest in using RFID tags to help combat diverting and counterfeiting," said Jeff Woods, research vice president at Gartner.

Read More: RFID exploding into pharma industry

RFID bands at the Jacobi Medical Center

Medical staff at the Jacobi Medical Center in New York can trace the medical history of their patients by reading information from the RFID radio wristbands that the patients wear. The US "Chime Collaboration Competition" has recognized the efforts of Siemens Business Services and the hospital for making this idea successful. The American Health Care Research & Innovations Congress has also given an award to the solution.

The patients are fitted with a wristband that has an RFID chip carrying an identification number. Medical staff can read the number by using their PDAs or tablet PCs; this enables instant identification of the patient and provides the doctors with access to confidential medical history.

The solution has resulted in the patients experiencing better care. The right medicine in an appropriate dose is made available to the correct patient at the right time. The entry of patient information at the point of care is simplified and the data is stored in a secure repository.

Tracking animals with RFID

In order to monitor and protect the health of animals that are used for human consumption, the federal government and leading agribusinesses in America have come together for a major joint effort. The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) will cost around half a billion dollars by 2009. The recurrent expenses include the cost of tags and system upgrades. These could be as high as $ 122 million each year.

RFID in the pharma supply chain

An efficient and well monitored supply chain is critical for the pharmaceutical industry. Non-availability of drugs at the right time can lead to serious consequences and so can the proliferation of spurious drugs. There are close to a 100,000 fatalities every year in the US that are a result of errors in dispensing medicine.

The healthcare sector contributes around $ 1.7 trillion to the US economy. According to the CMS, the healthcare sector will be contributing close to $ 3.6 trillion to the US economy in 10 years’ time. In 2004, the global market for prescription drugs was of half a trillion dollars out which North America accounted for 47% of the value. The growth of the pharmaceutical sector and specifically the prescription drug market is a result of sustained economic growth, increase in the number of elderly people, greater number of jobs, and advertising that targets the end user. The deployment of RFID in the supply chain of prescription drugs in the US is receiving its impetus from the federal government, the state of Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart.

From June 2006, drug manufacturers and dealers will be required to electronically keep track of all controlled items shipped into Florida. If the manufacturers do not comply with this drug pedigree law, they will incur stiff fines. Florida is that first state that has taken a step like this in order to improve control and traceability in the supply chain. Wal-Mart’s mandate regarding the RFID tagging of Class II narcotics is also having a positive effect regarding RFID adoption by pharmaceutical companies. The first company to comply with Wal-Mart’s mandate for drug suppliers was Purdue Pharma, which manufactures the painkiller OxyContin. An increasing number of pharmaceutical companies are beginning to see RFID as the tool that will help in developing an electronic pedigree of items throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain.

The pharmaceutical industry has also taken the lead in implementing item-level tagging. This is because the pharmaceutical items have a much higher value as compared to the cost of the tags. RFID will also enable better management of temperature sensitive pharmaceutical items. Apart from preventing and detecting counterfeits, RFID can also be used to prevent the drug consignments from being diverted from their actual destinations. Pharmaceutical companies that have high value brands are keen to implement item-level tagging. Pfizer intends to tag packages of Viagra by the end of 2005.

RFID in healthcare

According to a new study by BearingPoint, Inc, the healthcare sector is adopting RFID with enthusiasm. Spending on RFID is set to see a rise from 2007. morerfid.com reports:

"This survey illustrates that most healthcare executives believe RFID technologies are strategic to their business in a number of important aspects, from patient safety to operational improvement," said Jim Gallas, senior vice president of BearingPoint's health services practice.

Read More: Large Healthcare Organizations Are Embracing RFID

Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems has released an RFID-based solution for the tracking and authentication of drugs. The solution consists of software, hardware, and services that will help manufacturers to tackle spurious drugs that may find a way into their supply chain. ccmsectorinvest.com reports:

In December 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration set guidelines for drug companies to use in setting up systems to keep an eye on pharmaceuticals as they move from the supply chain.

Read More: Keeping Drugs Legit With RFID

ColdStream Plant to Shelf

Sensitech has introduced an RFID-enabled device, ColdStream Plant to Shelf (PTS), which monitors temperature. The company provides data analysis and integration for pharmaceutical companies. The system will provide companies with the information necessary to track temperatures from end-to-end in the cold chains. Initial trials have shown a reduction in shrinkage due to spoilage by as much as 15%.

Sensitech TempTale devices are incorporated into active RFID transponders that are placed in the pallets and cases. 915 MHz active tags are used to transmit temperature data to the readers throughout the cold chain. The PTS system sends an alert if the perishable commodity is no longer in its ambient temperature range. The application allows users to measure the quality of its perishable item; thereby helping in quality control.

Smart-tek Solutions

Smart-tek Solutions, which is a California-based company, is offering its RFID monitoring and surveillance technology to restrict the spread of avian flu. ccmsectorinvest.com reports:

The disease, which can sicken and sometimes kill humans, has been the focus of policy makers from the United States to China – not to mention a fair share of spammers, scammers and hackers.

Read More: RFID pitched for bird-flu containment

Effect of RFID on insulin vials

According to the U.S FDA, prolonged exposure to electromagnetic radiation from a UHF reader raises the temperature of insulin kept in vials. Insulin is a temperature-sensitive substance; however, the FDA did not test the effects of UHF radiation on the efficacy of insulin. 14.4 cm long vials of insulin were placed at a distance of 40 cm from the antennas of a 915 MHz interrogator and subjected to 1 watt of RF power.

The FDA used computer models to observe the changes in temperature for vials of different shapes and various RFID antennas. The researchers were able to achieve