New IoT Service from Verizon and rfXcel Targets Protection of Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
A newly available Internet of Things service from Verizon which leverages technology from rfXcel will help pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors improve patient safety and protect the integrity and safety of their supply chains.
Verizon Intelligent Track and Trace combines the company’s world-class networks and capabilities of its ThingSpace Internet of Things platform with the rfXcel Traceability System to create a comprehensive approach to monitor and trace pharmaceutical products moving through the supply chain from manufacturing facility to pharmacy, clinic or hospital.
By enabling the monitoring and tracing of pharmaceutical products, Verizon Intelligent Track and Trace provides cloud-based near real-time monitoring, helping to address key pharmaceutical industry challenges, such as theft, channel diversion, counterfeiting and product safety. The scope of counterfeiting is daunting, as highlighted by the following.
- American Health & Drug Benefits, a peer-reviewed journal, reports that the value of the U.S. counterfeit drug market is $75 billion annually, leading to more than 100,000 patient deaths.
- The World Health Organization estimates 10-15 percent of the world’s drug supply is counterfeit.
Leveraging the rfXcel Traceability System, Verizon Intelligent Track and Trace enables pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors to obtain real-time monitoring of product temperatures, location and other key product attributes anywhere along the supply chain. Verizon Intelligent Track and Trace, a cloud-based service, also creates, manages, allocates and stores large volumes of individual and hierarchical serial numbers to provide visibility and control, key to helping detect counterfeit drugs.
In addition, the service delivers a variety of benefits to pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors such as:
- Supply chain management. Provides users with the ability to monitor, trace and serialize product hierarchies, by pallet, case or individual unit.
- Improve patient safety. Factors such as temperature, light, location, shock and other key attributes can be monitored in real-time and provide valuable alerts if any changes through the course of the supply chain that could have an impact on the efficacy and quality of shipments.
- Facilitate compliance with government regulations. Verizon Intelligent Track and Trace will provide information for use by end-user organizations to help meet the requirements of government regulations, including the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act.
Verizon Intelligent Track and Trace is now commercially available to global pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors.