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The Benefits of Smart, NFC-driven Solutions

The features and functionalities described above – secure ID, on-product data, and off-product data – combine to yield a wide range of capabilities that deliver a variety of benefits, including increased patient safety, higher quality assurance, greater consumer/patient engagement, and more effective messaging and analytics.

1) Anti-Counterfeiting and Channel Traceability:

By helping to ensure patient safety, combat fraud, and increase traceability, NFC smart tags and labels help protect brands and increase consumer confidence.Inspectors and consumers can securely verify that a product is genuine. Verification can happen in near real time, anywhere in the world, by simply tapping an NFC-enabled smartphone to the product package.The need to combat counterfeit drugs is critical. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported that 8 to 15% of drugs sold globally are fake or substandard. Developing countries are more affected than developed countries. Not only do fake medicines impact pharma revenues, they pose a health risk, since they can contain incorrect doses, wrong ingredients, or no active ingredients at all.For channel traceability, and to help identify sales outside authorized markets, NFC tags can be assigned to specific distributors and locations. The ability to authenticate and trace products within the supply chain, using location awareness and cloud-based monitoring, also makes it easier for pharma companies to meet regulatory requirements and protect the last mile to the consumer. By identifying clusters of counterfeits, tampering episodes, or diverted products, pharma companies can take corrective actions sooner.

2) Anti-Tampering and other Product Integrity Assurance:

An increasing number of medication – as many as one-third of all new FDA approval in the U.S. – are heat sensitive, which means improper storage and transit issues can impact quality and reduce effectiveness. Regulations for temperature control cover the points between the pharma company and the pharmacy or hospital, but not the last mile to the patient. Smart NFC labels can be equipped with temperature sensors and data loggers that monitor ambient temperature changes at any time and report whether a product has been handled correctly, even once it’s left the supply chain and is in the patient’s hands. The pharma company can trace when and where any problems occur, for quick remediation, and patients can be certain of a drug’s quality and effectiveness.Tamper evidence, which indicates if a product has been opened or interfered with prior to sale, is another feature that can reassure patients. Tamper evidence can remove doubts about whether a product has been diluted, refilled, or otherwise substituted from the original, for increased consumer-patient confidence.

3) Consumer/Patient Engagement:

The increased use of apps, wearables, and sensors is evidence that patients want to be more engaged in their own care, want to play a more active role in managing their well-being, and want to know more about their medications. Deloitte reports that there are over 260,000 health apps in use worldwide and that 70% of patient groups use at least one app to manage their condition – making it clear that a mobile ecosystem has developed within healthcare.On-demand product information, such as ingredients, origin, expiration date, or intended use, along with interactions with smartphone apps, such as medication management tools, diaries, or alarms, and connection to doctors and social patient networks, give consumers new ways to become more engaged. Smart NFC labels and packages can help patients stick to their treatment plans, since the technology lets pharma companies communicate key information, such as dosage and usage information, directly to patients via their smartphones.WHO estimates that more than half of patients with chronic diseases fail to adhere to their prescribed therapy. Smart NFC packages can be configured to sense when a pill is taken out of a blister package and then log date and time of the action. This feature, when used with an NFC phone and an app, can generate reminders to take a pill and/or check proper dosage. When combined with cloud connectivity, it can enable treatment monitoring and advice by a physician. Helping patients keep to their dosing schedules can be especially useful with the treatment of chronic illnesses, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and other conditions that need ongoing care.Smart NFC packages also give patients a way to interact with pharma companies, in support of the pharmacovigilance tasks related to product safety. Mobile consumer/patient engagement can help identify and prevent adverse effects associated with a given medication. Patients can use an application to report any health issues associated with use of a product, and pharmaceutical companies can inform their app users if a product is recalled. These kinds of interactions also create closer relationships between pharma companies and their consumer/patient customers.

4) Automated Device Interaction:

Health devices, such as glocuse meters and other drug-delivery devices, can be equipped with NFC readers that communicate with NFC tagged refills, to automatically confirm origin and prevent container re-use. NFC tagged refills can make products easier to use, too. By storing configuration data, the NFC tag can automate setups, and by storing expiration dates, the NFC tag can ensure the refill is still within its recommended use period.