New Research Project For RFID In Health-Care IndustryNew Research Project For RFID In Health-Care Industry

Auto-ID Labs, the MIT organization that helped develop radio-frequency identification, is investigating how RFID and related technologies can be used by the health-care industry for tracking pharmaceuticals and other applications.

Auto-ID Labs on Tuesday disclosed the creation of the Healthcare Research Initiative, a research project that will study the use of RFID, mass serialization, and sensing technologies in health care. The research will be done in collaboration with EPCglobal Inc., the organization overseeing the development of RFID standards, and with health-care companies and industry associations.

Auto-ID's goal for the project is to provide an objective body of research that health-care companies can draw on when making RFID deployment decisions. The project, for example, will examine whether RFID emissions have any effect on pharmaceutical products. Auto-ID will also conduct physical trials of its research to validate its findings.

The project will initially focus on the use of RFID for tracking drugs through the supply chain, from raw materials through the final sale or dispensation of finished pharmaceutical products. Pharmaceutical makers, backed by a recent report from the federal Food and Drug Administration, have expressed interest in using RFID to solve the problem of counterfeit drugs entering distribution networks.