Eindhoven, The Netherlands, March 26, 2007 - In the ongoing battle against counterfeit drugs, NXP Semiconductors, the independent company founded by Philips and recently named by ABI Research as the leading Contactless IC vendor worldwide , today announced its ICODE UID-OTP smart label IC to improve patient safety, to secure the pharmaceutical supply chain and to support US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) electronic pedigree requirements. Well-suited to meet the needs of leading pharmaceutical companies, TAGSYS’ hardware and labels, based on NXP’s ICODE UID-OTP ICs, are being implemented to run pharmaceutical tracking programs that provide end-to-end security for high-value prescription drugs in the supply chain. With NXP’s RFID technology, consumers have personal security in the knowledge they are purchasing genuine drugs. The pharmaceutical industry benefits from optimized counterfeit protection, increased inventory control, shelf-driven replenishment, reduced labor costs, and overall improved manufacturing and supply chain efficiency.
“Counterfeit drugs put peoples’ lives at risk, as well as wasting their money and their faith in an industry that’s dedicated to providing them with life-saving medicines,” said Jan-Willem Reynaerts, general manager RFID, NXP Semiconductors. “Protecting consumers from counterfeit drugs takes a concerted effort on the part of pharmaceutical companies and distributors, as well as government agencies and technology companies. NXP and our partner, TAGSYS, are committed to laying the groundwork to support the pharmaceutical industry with the latest in RFID technology and best practices in their anti-counterfeiting implementations – from the production line to the pharmacy.”
NXP’s ICODE high-frequency (13.56 MHz) RFID ICs are already being used for item-level tagging of pharmaceuticals to track and trace individual product items throughout the supply chain. The latest product in the range, the ICODE UID-OTP, features an NXP-programmed Unique Identifier (UID) guaranteeing the RFID tag is unique and has a one-time-programmable (OTP) user memory that locks the user data after programming. The product also supports a destroy command, allowing the RFID tag to be permanently disabled when the customer picks up their prescription from the pharmacy, ensuring their privacy.
“Drug counterfeiting is a widespread and serious problem that directly affects patient safety,” said Michael Liard, research director, RFID and Contactless for ABI Research. “RFID is proving to be an important tool in the fight against counterfeit drugs, and more pharmaceutical companies are looking to the technology to protect consumers from non-genuine drugs, avoiding revenue losses caused by illegal copies, and securing the overall supply chain.”
The new ICODE IC features enhanced anti-collision technology and enables read rates of up to 200 labels per second, helping speed processes and improving efficiency all along the supply chain from the manufacturer to the pharmacy shelf.
”TAGSYS works closely with NXP to enable the rapid and effective adoption of RFID in the pharmaceutical supply chain for leading drug manufacturers,” said John Jordon, president of worldwide operations for TAGSYS. “TAGSYS and NXP take a ‘silicon-to-system’ approach to deliver RFID infrastructure capable of operating under TAGSYS’ Six Sigma Performance Program – a six sigma read- rate guarantee that ensures data integrity and accuracy in the track and trace of drug shipments.”
By tagging a product with a TAGSYS label at the manufacturing plant, the drugs delivered to wholesalers and pharmacies can be authenticated by easily scanning the RFID tags. Pharmacies can then run a query via a secure internet connection to check tag data. As a final check, the technology detects in real time whether the electronic product code (EPC), in combination with the UID, is valid, which confirms the drug’s authenticity at pharmacy level.
ICODE UID-OTP can also help improve the process of developing drugs and running clinical trials. All data can be electronically stored and linked to the label, helping to decrease the amount of paperwork required. This also helps reduce human error when entering data and ensures procedure compliance in sample tracking. The result is faster and more accurate statistics, helping pharmaceutical companies to bring new drugs to market more quickly.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates counterfeit drugs make up more than 10% of the global medicines market. An estimated 25% of the medicines consumed in developing countries are believed to be counterfeit. In some countries, the figure is thought to be as high as 50%. The Centre for Medicines in the Public Interest (CMPI) in the US predicts that counterfeit drug sales will reach USD 75 billion globally in 2010, an increase of more than 90% from 2005. (Source WHO; Counterfeit medicines; February 2006)
Note to editors:
Pricing and Availability
NXP ICODE UID-OTP chips are currently available. Sample pricing starts at $ 0,055 depending on volume. NXP ICODE UID-OTP chip demos will be available at the NXP booth and the TAGSYS booth at RFID World in Dallas, Texas from March 26-28, 2007.
Key features ICODE UID-OTP:
- NXP programmed unique identifier (UID)
- Supports EPC or customer-specific numbering schemes
- Runs on ISO 15693 infrastructures with simple reader firmware update
- Anti-collision with identification speeds of up to 200 labels/s
- Destroy command with 24-bit code protection
- One-time-programmable user memory
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