RFID readers, tag chips and near-field antennas boost pharma supply chain efficiency, security

Purdue Pharma L.P. said this week it will integrate Impinj Inc.'s Gen 2 radio frequency identification (RFID) products into high-speed pharmaceutical packaging lines for improved pharmaceutical supply chain efficiency and security.

Scheduled for production-level deployment in the second quarter of 2007, Purdue Pharma's Gen 2 RFID-enabled packaging line will utilize the Impinj GrandPrix UHF RFID solution, comprising Speedway readers, tags powered by Monza chips and application-specific near-field reader antennas. The packaging line will be certified for production readiness under SYSTECH International's TIPS Serialized Product Tracking solution that includes exhaustive tests modeling Purdue Pharma production packaging environments. During advance testing, the Impinj-powered packaging line surpassed tag read rate requirements with 100 percent tag read reliability.

"We are working to implement innovative solutions that will enhance security within the supply chain," said Aaron Graham, vice president of Corporate Security and chief security officer at Purdue Pharma. "The Impinj RFID technology has been selected as an integral part of our packaging line improvements to help the company establish an ePedigree process that will significantly improve the delivery of products from the factory to the pharmacy counter."

Impinj said its GrandPrix solution utilizing Monza tag chips and Speedway readers addresses high tag throughput rates, high read and programming reliability, and secure track and trace capability. The Speedway reader has been shown to achieve read reliability with throughput exceeding 1,000 tags per second in typical supply chain environments and 200 tags per second in dense reader environments with up to eight interfering readers.

Impinj also touted the Speedway reader's mono-static antenna design that it said delivers the RFID industry's highest performance while substantially reducing deployment and ownership costs. Monza chips and Speedway readers carry both EPCglobal's Gen 2 Conformance Certification and Interoperability Certification marks.

"We are very pleased that Purdue Pharma has selected the GrandPrix RFID solution to power its exciting new packaging line," said Dimitri Desmons, vice president of RFID marketing at Impinj. "This deployment demonstrates the reliability and high performance of Impinj's RFID technology for enabling item-level tagging and ePedigree initiatives that improve pharmaceutical supply chain operations and security."

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