Spanish pharma prefers RFID tracing system to datamatrix

A survey of Spanish pharma and pharma distribution executives shows they favour the chip-based RFID system over the 2D datamatrix barcode alternative.

According to the results of the survey, released ahead of a government programme to test medicine traceability systems, 22% of the 100 executives questioned said RFID was best for the sector, while 18% preferred the existing bar code system and 9% opted for datamatrix. Seven per cent of respondents said they preferred other systems, and 44% did not answer or said they did not know.

Of those who voted for the RFID system, almost 50% said they liked it for its ease of reading, 33% for the control it affords operators, 29% for safety and 19% for ease of installation. The percentages were significantly higher than those in the same categories for the existing bar code system.

However, the price of RFID is expected to be high and could be the biggest challenge to winning government approval as a nationwide method for tracing medicines from manufacturer to patient.

The Spanish health ministry is expected to announce soon the start of a pilot programme to determine whether RFID or the 2D datamatrix barcode system would be best to ensure the safety of the country's medicines distribution chain. But it is not clear how long the trial would take, or when the government will announce its findings and then require pharma companies, distributors and pharmacies to install the chosen system.

"Cost is the big problem for RFID but it is seen as more efficient than datamatrix," said Lluis Soler Gomis, the director of IDTrack, the company that carried out the survey.

"Expense will be a major concern for the entire industry especially when you consider the low prices of pharmaceutical products in this country," he added. "At this point, no one knows who will pay for a new system, whether it's RFID or datamatrix."

The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) anticipates a total cost to the European industry of between Euro 150m and €600m to install datamatrix on packaging lines. There would be an additional cost of €400 for each code-reader installed in pharmacies.

Isabel Vallejo, president of the Spanish Pharmacists Association, which sponsored the study and which has not expressed a preference, said that whichever system was chosen, her concern was "guaranteeing the confidentiality of both patient and commercial data".

"It must be certain that information regarding patients' illnesses, diagnoses and medicine consumption are safeguarded and that no data can ever be used for marketing purposes," she said.