CGT Inside News - 1/11/2006
January 11, 2006 - In its latest initiative to promote patient safety by combating pharmaceutical counterfeiting, Pfizer Inc. is now tagging all Viagra shipped and sold in the United States with RFID. Viagra was selected for the RFID project because it has been a major target for counterfeiters. Equipping containers of Viagra with RFID technology will now enable pharmacies and wholesalers to use specially-designed electronic scanners that communicate the EPC code over the Internet to a secure Pfizer Web site.
"The primary goal for adding the technology is to enhance patient safety," says Tom McPhillips, vice president of Pfizer's U.S. Trade Group. "We want pharmacists who fill prescriptions for Pfizer medicines, and patients who use those medicines, to have increased confidence that they are receiving authentic product and not a potentially dangerous fake. We are creating additional barriers for criminals who might attempt to counterfeit our products."
The company's application of RFID is not yet capable of "tracking and tracing" medicines through the distribution system as "track and trace" requires that all parts of the supply chain invest in compatible technology and agree to capture and share information about product movement. Pfizer will however continue to explore the uses of this technology — including "track and trace" — during the coming year.
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