Project: Logistics control, storage monitoring and anti-counterfeiting of PHARMaceutical products by Advanced Integrated Devices.

Uploaded on 24/09/2009 5:57 PM_x000D__x000D_Project goal and background_x000D__x000D_Counterfeiting and improper handling (transport - storage) of medicines represent the CO causes of health problem arising from the intake of drugs, because of lack of expected therapeutic effect or even presence of toxic by-products or substitutes._x000D__x000D_Counterfeiting is becoming increasingly widespread globally, both in developed and in emerging markets, and represents a major threat for the patient's health as well as a huge financial burden for the industry. At the same time, quality concerns dictate that sensitive active ingredients be kept within well defined environmental (climatic) conditions for their entire lifetime. A means to track and guarantee that these conditions are respected represents a real need as well as a primary priority._x000D__x000D_Within this project, we aim at developing a system addressing both these issues; particularly for:_x000D__x000D_- preventing the counterfeiting and identifying illegal trading of medicines;_x000D__x000D_- tracking the medicines, possibly up to the single packaging unit, along the supply chain;_x000D__x000D_- allowing patients and pharmacists to easily verify the authenticity of the drug using a simple reader (e.g. a reading system placed inside the pharmacy in the form of a totem);_x000D__x000D_- certifying that the drugs have not been exposed to environmental parameters (e.g. time and/or humidity) exceeding the prescribed storage and shipping conditions;_x000D__x000D_- allowing the safe, easy and cost-effective recall from the market of drugs at all levels of the supply chain; and_x000D__x000D_- providing means to monitor the health care expenses through a mass serialization (a similar system, though based on a printed label, already exists in Italy)._x000D__x000D_The envisaged system will consist of innovative smart labels (RFID) - optionally equipped with an environmental sensor element - that can be directly integrated into the primary packages to reduce costs. Furthermore, a dedicated RFID reader device and related software will also be part of the proposed system._x000D__x000D_Because the topic is quite sensitive and unauthorized reading of RFID is a recognized risk, security will be carefully considered over all system elements._x000D__x000D_Project consortium_x000D__x000D_ADA Project (ADA): An Italian SME with more than 10 years of experience in software development, will be charged in design and implementation of the system middleware and services, with their interfaces, to expose toward external systems._x000D__x000D_Nexse (NEXSE): An Italian SME based in Rome with 10 years of experience on the ICT market. Nexse mission is the design, implementation, integration and development of innovative applications, systems and services. Nexse has a solid experience on the deployment of logistic solutions based on RFID and NFC technologies._x000D__x000D_Università di Roma “La Sapienza” (UNIROMA1): At the Department of Computer and System Sciences (DIS) at “La Sapienza” university of Rome internationally renowned research groups in computer science, systems science, and management science are active. The researchers involved in the project have a strong competence on RFID security and on the design of efficient algorithms and protocols for resource constrained devices._x000D__x000D_Cerbios Pharma SA (CERBIOS): A Swiss SME active since over 30 years in the research and industrial production of pharmaceutical active ingredients and finished products. The Company, counting about 100 employees, has its own production unit and has strong relations with the various actors of the supply chain, making an ideal P for the definition and test of project's results._x000D__x000D_University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI): A Swiss academy that can count on senior researchers with a considerable experience gained from many successful application oriented research projects with the industry, in the fields of RFID, high-frequency electronics and antenna design, sensors, microelectronics and material sciences. The various research groups are backed by laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation and development tools.

Acronym	pharmAID (Reference Number: 5067)
Duration	01/07/2010 - 31/12/2012
Project Topic	Creating an infrastructure based on passive RFID tags for the pharmaceutical market to:_x000D_ - prevent drugs' counterfeiting;_x000D_ - certify drugs' integrity against unsuitable ambient conditions exposures; and_x000D_ - track drugs along the supply chain.
Project Results (after finalisation)	Within this project, the consortium has developed an RDIF based system supported by a specific software architecture addressing these issues:_x000D__x000D_- preventing the counterfeiting and identifying illegal trading of medicines using innovative RFID labels tracked by a specific software architecture technology_x000D_- tracking the medicines, up to the single packaging unit, from the production plant to the pharmacy_x000D_- allowing patients and pharmacists to easily verify the authenticity of the drug using a simple reader (a reading system placed inside the pharmacy in the form of a totem)_x000D_certifying that the drugs have not been exposed to environmental parameters (temperature and/or humidity) exceedig the prescribed storage and shipping conditions, using an innovative RF temperature label_x000D_- allowing the safe, easy and cost-effective recall from the market of drugs_x000D__x000D_The system will consists of innovative RFID labels, optionally equipped with an environmental sensor element that can be directly interrogated via radio frequency, both integrated into drug packages to reduce costs, a dedicated RFID reader device and related software that integrate and manage all the platform and allow to interface to existing ERP infrastructures._x000D__x000D_Because the topic is quite sensitive and unauthorized reading of RFID is a recognized risk, a specific security coding procedure was studied._x000D_
Network	Eurostars
Call	Eurostars Cut-Off 3

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
5	ADA Project s.r.l.	Coordinator	Italy
5	CERBIOS-PHARMA SA	Partner	Switzerland
5	NEXSE s.r.l.	Partner	Italy
5	Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana	Partner	Switzerland
5	Università degli studi di Roma La Sapienza	Partner	Italy