Since food and drug safety is a matter of life and death, a new approach called ePedigree has been developed with the aim of combating counterfeits by using RFID (radio frequency identification) technology.

ePedigree is a secure file that stores data about each move a product makes through the supply chain. It can reduce counterfeiting of drugs and other products as it establishes a trusted chain of custody from point of manufacturer to point of dispensing to ensure a safe and secure drug supply.

"Pedigree means purity, no mixture. So ePedigree is a way to ensure purity electronically," said Colin Lian, head of retail business development for the region at SAP Asia Pte Ltd.

He said that counterfeit drugs are a major problem, especially in Asia, as the FDA has estimated that in parts of Asia, fake drugs account for more than 50 per cent of medical sales and they kill thousand of people every year. In China alone, dozens of Chinese babies are said to have died from malnutrition in the past year after being fed fake or inferior-quality milk powders.

According to report from the World Health Organisation, the counterfeit rate in the pharmaceutical industry is growing at 6-8 per cent annually and 7-8 per cent of drugs worldwide are counterfeit. The number has even reached 50 per cent in some countries.

To prevent altered or counterfeit food and drugs from entering the supply chain, RFID tags have become the alternative. When attached to bottles or product containers, the whole supply chain route becomes traceable.

Implementing the ePedigree system in conjunction with RFID, authentication of each owner is listed on the pedigree of a drug product to make it possible to trace from the current owner back to the original manufacturer and shipment point.

Also, the validation that the drug product refers to on the pedigree matches the actual product received. This includes reconciliation of the product on hand to ensure it has a pedigree, and confirmation that only products with pedigrees are shipped to customers, together with linking pedigree information to outbound shipments and confirmation that shipped products have complete and accurate pedigrees.

In the near future, manufacturers, wholesalers, pharmacies, hospitals, doctors, and others will be required to collect, store, and certify accurate pedigrees on the drugs they sell and dispense.

For the pharmaceutical industry, where counterfeiting is a serious issue, the ability to track a specific drug product through the supply chain and trace its exact journey will help secure the integrity of the drug supply by providing an accurate drug pedigree.

Lian said that with the advent of the  EPC (electronic product code) Gen 2, the second generation of RFID tags, the product supply chain becomes even more secure since it is impossible to fake or replicate the RFID tags.

The idea of the EPC is to assign a globally unique number to every RFID tag. This EPC serves as an identifier for the physical object carrying the tag.

Apart from having the EPC code on top, each tag will have a unique identification number assigned and imprinted on a chip.

"With the combination of the two numbers, it is impossible to find way to crack or counterfeit the tags. The Gen 2 tags are now available in the industry," he said.

While Gen 1 RFID had some problems with accuracy, in Gen 2 the encoding in the bits that identify tags has changed, enabling devices to more accurately read the tag. Another advantage, from the business side, is data storage. The first generation had either 64 or 96 bits of information, Gen 2 RFID starts at 96 bits.

Forrestor Research has pointed out that RFID is key to ePedigree and authentication, which can ease the industry into drug tracing more cost effectively, while reassuring consumers that they are getting prescription drugs that come from trusted manufacturers.

Authentication systems that operate independently from the underlying data collection technology will help the drug industry secure drug supplies, protect valuable brands, and avoid legislation that will force costly compliance requirements that add little business value.

Apart from use for food and drugs safety, Lian said that the ePedigree could also be used with animals or products that require special handling, for example milk or yoghurt that require cool storage through the whole supply chain. The RFID tags can tell exactly where and when the products were wrongly stored.

"At this stage, the Gen 2 tag costs about Bt8, which for food or pharmaceuticals is worth the expense," he said.

Suchalee Pongprasert

The Nation

suchalee@nationgroup.com