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RFID Labels On Prescription Drug Bottles
sonik1 writes "The New York Times is reporting that the Food and Drug Administration and several major drug makers are expected to announce an agreement Monday to put tiny radio antennas on the labels of millions of medicine bottles to combat counterfeiting and fraud. RFID labels provide a unique identifier that is almost impossible to copy. When pharmacists receive delivery, they should be able to pass a wand over the bottles and, through an online database, check the history of each. Each label costs 20 to 50 cents."
You need more coffee, man - your brain hasn't started to function yet.
Even from the summary, it was obvious that these RFID tags are NOT going to be on the bottles you're carrying home. They're going to be on the bottles of prescription drugs that the pharmacies receive and will be used to authenticate that the drugs were not replaced during shipment. You'll still get the same amber bottle you've always gotten to carry your drugs home in.
Your last couple of points, however, are totally valid. Unless opening the bottles destroys the RFID tag, there's no way to tell that the drugs inside the bottles haven't been replaced. And 20 cases per year? Given the huge number of prescriptions filled in the US per year, 20 cases of counterfeit drugs is so miniscule that the problem is essentially non-existent.
--Ender
Loose things are easy to lose. You're getting your hair cut. They're going there to see their aunt.
NOT the little brown bottles you bring home.
This will save you MORE than money.This will potentially save you (or your family members) lives as it prevents fake drugs- or at least makes them a lot harder to produce.
The number of fake pills out there is staggering. This is actually a 'good' implementation of RFID.
The only thing this has to do with the little brown bottle you bring home is that it may vist a few cents more (the tag costs like 20 cents, the tagged bottle may fill 10-50 prescriptions). The benefit is that you can be pretty darn sure tha medicine you get is legit.
I think it's worth it.
Repant. Thy end is sheer.
For the time being it is only going on the large bottles that percriptions are filled from. You will probably not see any increase unless you are purchasing a multiple year usage of viagra.
RFID tags on the boxes means that it will now be easy for customs to deny entry of cheaper canadian pharmacuticals into the US since their history can't be guaranteed authentic. Remember that the Bush battlecry has been safety and with this you will be able to track drugs Canadian hands which are unsafe by definition since they aren't subjet to US laws.
Looks like the plan is unfolding as it should
Or is it just tin foil hat time?
Why would they be hard to copy?
They're a 10 digit number emitted over RF at 13.57mhz. RFID ain't magic, it's just barcode over AM radio.
Even the physical security guys are starting to realize that perhaps moving all access control to this tech was a profoundly questionable move. Something like a deadpool is forming for the first time someone walks by a TSA agent and electronically pickpockets access to the entire airport. Convenience, eh?
Or at least it is in this case.
I recently co-oped at a large pharmaceutical company and it honestly looks like RFID is a good idea here.
Counterfeit drugs are a serious problem. There are several large counterfeiting operations working out of areas like China that produce product that is so authentic looking that most people (even doctors) can't tell the difference. The only problem is that nobody has any idea as to whether the dosages are correct or if the product was manufactured under sterile conditions. There have already been a few deaths.
I've read quite a few people complaining about how RFID is going to jack up the cost of prescriptions, but I would willingly pay %0.50-$1.00 to guarantee that I'm actually taking what I think I'm taking.
It's your life, though. Feel free to gamble with it if you must.
As if my three prescription drugs don't cost enough already (and my co-pays continue to increase) I am going to have to subsidize a possible invasion of my privacy as well? Are they going to insure that before I leave that pharmacy counter that the tag's information will be wiped?
The article says the tags are for the big bottles the pharmacy receives, not the amber bottles for the consumers. This doesn't seem to be a consumer rights issue at all, mostly.
Some readers appear to be missing the fact that this only applies to the large jugs of pills that the pharmacists receive. Your individual pill bottle will not have this antenna.
For now at least... I'd imagine that if this is succesful, that consumer bottles will be next on the list, where they'll likely meet the same kind of debate that RFID tags are now dealing with.
RFID tags have a VERY limited range. a few feet at most. to scan someone, you would have to be nearly touching them. you couldn't wardrive for narcotics, like one poster mentioned.
the tags are only on the large bottles that pharmicies get. the kind that has about 1000 or so pills in it. that is about 33 perscripions. so $0.50/33= $0.0001.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
It's not like they'll know that tag # 6165846185385498431837272978435 is a viagra prescription, unless it's a store that's connected to the database (ie you bought it from a walgreens, any walgreens will probably be able to look it up), in which case they know you bought it anyways because it went into the computer when you purchased it.
I don't read AC A human right
According to a story in the Washington Post, the scale of the problem is much larger than "20 cases" might sound like. Each of these cases may involve tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of doses of counterfeit drugs, many of which are resold back to the major pharma companies, so your local drug store can't tell that they came from a shady middleman rather than directly from Merck's factories.
Part of the problem is that Even worse,RTFA.
RFID proposed for tracking from manufacturer to retailer. You're jug of 5000 Viagra (buy the 10's the 5's are 80% the price and a pill cutteris cheap) will only go up by $.50/$5000.
IMO this particular application is a solution in search of a problem. Drugs are already tracked. Every time a shipment changed hands, someone has to sign for it. Ahh, but the RFID solution is so much easier than taking note of the $8.78/hour warehouse worker wearing $50k in bling and driving a new H2.
What you should really fear is a mass introduction of taggants.
Put these in pizza and burgers and the guys at the waste plant will know who has been eating what and where they have been disposing of the residue.
Video camera with RFID scanner, targeting, automated fire control, and housekeeping will be a boon to the security industry.
Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle!