Saturday, January 07, 2006

Pfizer fights fake Viagra with RFID

As with many industries, the threat of counterfeit products pose many problems. However, when these fake products enter the pharmaceutical arena, there's more at stake than lost revenue -- the risk expands to health and possibly death. This is the case with one of the most talked about drugs of our time - Viagra.

Given the financial and health risks associated with "fake Viagra" medication, Pfizer is combatting these counterfeits through radio-frequency identication (RFID) technology and started to affix these tags to all U.S. shipments of Viagra.

Pfizer plans to spend about $5 million on the project and Intellareturn only expects this use to grow. While privacy advocates are concerned about these measures, it really is about protecting the consumer and counterfeit drugs pose real harm. Strict guidelines are needed for these practices, but Intellareturn applauds Pfizer for taking a stand against counterfeiters and other fraudulent activities.