XRF Applications Blog

Friday, October 24, 2008

Breaking News: Pharmaceutical Verification

RDC Pilots New Technology To Insure The
Integrity Of The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

Rochester, NY, Oct. 21, 2008: RDC Inc., the member owned pharmaceutical distribution cooperative headquartered in Rochester, New York today announced that is has entered into a pilot program with XStream Systems, Inc.  XStream manufactures the XT250 Material Identification System, a sophisticated new technology that identifies the exact molecular structure of a medication inside an unopened package.  The purpose of the 60 day pilot will be to determine if the technology can best be used to test and identify potentially adulterated or counterfeit product.

According to Larry Doud, CEO of the cooperative there is an ever growing concern about the integrity of the pharmaceutical supply chain in the United States.  Doud emphasizes that RDC is an Authorized Distributor of Record, meaning that all product stocked in its warehouse was purchased directly from the manufacturer.  Still he says, “Because there are reports of organized crime and other sophisticated organizations working to obtain high value medications and replace them with counterfeit product he has authorized the pilot program.”  During the 60 day pilot RDC will use the XT250 Material Identification System to scan product with a high incidence of counterfeiting in their order receiving and returned goods procedures.

According to Alan Clock, SVP of XStream the XT250 is a truly unique piece of technology that is finding multiple uses in the pharmaceutical supply chain.  “What makes the XT250 so practical is that by using this technology the user can determine if a product inside a sealed package is in fact the medication referenced on the label.”  According to Clock this means that product can be tested in real time, by non-scientific personnel in a few seconds all without the need to open the bottle or package it was shipped in.  

In further commenting on the pilot Doud indicated he is eager to see the results of the random product tests performed in the warehouse, but he indicates he does not expect to find any counterfeit or adulterated product because of the care his organization takes in ordering, storing and shipping product.  Doud says “We are honored to have been selected by XStream to participate in this test and look forward to helping them see how their unit performs in a real world application.”  Clock says XStream selected RDC for the test because “The type and variety of product RDC ships on a daily basis will provide us with the data elements we need to refine and improve the functionally of the XT250.”

Clock further indicates that as the data from the pilot program become available they will be sharing it with the industry at an upcoming industry symposium on Anti-Counterfeiting and Anti-Diversion Strategies as well as with other industry leaders.  According to Clock the pharmaceutical industry has spent millions of dollars over the past several years to find ways to product the integrity of the supply chain and that much of these efforts have revolved around radio frequency identification (RFID) chips that are embedded with serial numbers and other identifying codes.  But, Clock says one problem with RFID or any type of sensor based solution is that they only look at the package, not the product.  The true benefit of the XT250 is that it looks at the material inside the container and can determine not only if it is legitimate, but if it has been adulterated or tampered with.  Clock says XStream is indebted to RDC for its willingness to donate space, time, labor and senior management support to this pilot.

LINK: Information on the XStream System

   Add a comment

  Send to a friend

• General XRF