Drug companies go cold on RFID

Despite high profile backing from the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), take-up of RFID among pharmaceutical companies has stumbled due to a lack of clear return on investment and standards.

Research company IDC quizzed life sciences businesses about the progress of the tracking technology in the pharmaceuticals industry. The survey found 16 per cent are evaluating the technology and 15 per cent plan are actually using some form of RFID.

The average spend on RFID is $25,000, although IDC predicts that will grow to $75,000 over the next 12 months.

The question of cash is also holding pharmaceuticals companies back from deploying RFID: the most popular reason for backing away from the technology was the cost and the lack of demonstrated ROI, followed by the lack of an item-level standard.

The life sciences companies also declared they are concerned about questions of privacy and unreliable read rates.

RFID watchers had previously identified pharmaceuticals as one potential growth area for the technology, with the tracking chips used to prevent counterfeit drugs entering the supply chain.