RFID/NFC

New possibilities for the pharmaceutical industry

The market situation

Promising …

The global market for pharmaceutical products grew by about 6.9 percent every year since 2014. It`s going to grow to approximately 1.61 trillion $ in 2018. (EIU, Deloitte)

… but challenging

Rapid growth of counterfeit products: about 8 to 15 percent of all pharmaceutical products sold worldwide per year are counterfeits (WHO)
Increasing competition because of generics
Strict cost control programs by insurance companies and providers (price control, pro-generic policy, results-based care)
More empowered patients: informed, opinionated, price conscious, less loyal, …

Rising opportunity: mobile devices and the cloud

Bringing patients, pharmaceutical companies, and physicians closer together than ever before
Consumers assume a better control over their health via apps, wearables and sensors
Physicians get mobile data access and receive patients’ electronic health data stream (from EHRs, self monitoring tools) to optimize care

NFC-enabled pharmaceutical products

Can authenticate themselves
Unique IDs and cloud services
Can be traced
Document history and origin
Can share information and interact
Locally stored or via cloud
Follow their product life cycle
- Ingredients
- Temperature state
- How to use
- Reminders/refill alerts
- Dates of expiry

NFC to ensure product safety and integrity

Product verification nearly in real-time, everywhere in the world (anti-counterfeiting)
Visibility into illegitimate product movements (grey market control)
Tamper-proof seal

8 to 15 percent of all pharmaceutical products sold worldwide every year are counterfeits (WHO)

More patients engagement because of NFC

A never before possible bi-directional communication channel to guide and educate patients
Easy and instant access to product information (text, audio, video)
24/7-services to help patients via apps and websites
Connections to doctors (hotlines, patient forums, …)
Service optimization through situation analysis

There are significant gaps between services patients want and those they receive. (Accenture, US)

NFC to support adherence to treatment

Patients get reminders for the correct dosage
Pharmaceutical companies can receive adherence data for results-based care
Physicians can monitor and follow up the therapy

More than 50 percent of of chronic disease patients do not adhere to therapy (WHO). This often leads to hospitalizations.

NFC-enabled smart blisters

Smart blisters are working with an NFC-enabled phone and apps
Active blister with battery: senses whether a pill has been taken out of the blister and logs date and time
Inactive without battery: senses which pill has been taken in current blister

NFC-enabled product delivery devices

NFC-enabled smartphones and apps in conjunction with smart drug delivery devices
NFC-tagged inhalers, injection pens etc. for dosage monitoring, logging time and doses

NFC for pharmacovigliance

Pharmaceutical companies can inform patients about illegal channels or recalled products
Patients can report side effects to pharmaceutical companies
App/back-end system can inform patients about expired products

NFC for an optimal intake program

Glucose meters (with NFC readers) utilize NFC-tagged cartridges which use calibration codes to measure blood sugar
Adjusted device settings for correct insulin dose based on consumable intake: enhancement of patient safety and efficiency
Securing of accurate and timely replacements

"Companies can afford to give away the monitors for free because they make their money from the glucose strips." (Health)

NFC for cold-chain control

Temperature monitoring at item level and quality control over the full logistics chain
Traceable when and where a cold-chain incident happened; current state is unknown
Readout and configuration with NFC-enabled phone, using apps and the cloud
Apps and tutorials help patients with the correct handling

The cold chain from the producing company to the pharmacies or to hospitals is ensured. But only about 7 percent of patients know how to maintain the cold chain properly. (University of Utrecht, 2015)