RFID Tags Look Dead In The Water
Despite all the talk about the counterfeiting is on the rise and causing safety hazards, the industry appears to be unconvinced that radio frequency identification technology, or RFID, is going to save the day. And one wag suggests the whole notion is just so much hype.
Only 16 percent of pharmaceutical companies are currently evaluating RFID, and just 15 percent have adopted the technology in some way. On average, just $25,000 is spent on RFID currently, while that may triple to $75,000 over the next year.
There are several reasons: high cost; a lack of demontrated return on investment; security and privacy concerns; a lack of pressure from the FDA; and unreliable read rates, according to 143 execs polled in a new survey.
“While many pharmaceutical companies are eager to begin their RFID pilot work, we’re seeing a freeze on project funding until an item-level frequency standard is established. Evaluations are being hindered by corporate fear of investing in the wrong infrastructure,” says Eric Newmark, senior research analyst at Health Industry Insights, which conducted the survey. “It is unfortunate that patient and consumer safety is being delayed due to something this trivial.”
“Larger companies have had the luxury of moving forward with RFID, but others are more in the position of having to justify the investments needed to get evaluations started, and they are waiting for a more valid ROI. Secondly, there’s still ambiguity around the item-level frequency. I’ve personally talked to more than a dozen people who have project funding on hold because they are afraid to invest in the wrong infrastructure.”
However, Adam Fein, who writes the Drug Channels blog, has been following the issue and makes this point: “IMHO, technology vendors successfully bamboozled the FDA in 2004 into endorsing (but not mandating) RFID as the magic bullet against counterfeits.”
Further reading…
Health Industry Insights press release;
RFID Journal;
Hat tip to Drug Channels[tags]Counterfeiting, RFID[/tags]
