Viagra Tag Could Be Bitter Pill

[Celebration]

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70033-0.html?tw=wn_tophead_4

Those little tracking tags that infuriate watchdog groups are taking hold in yet another place of business -- your local pharmacy.

Last week, Pfizer announced that it will combat counterfeiters by sticking radio-frequency ID tags on large bottles of Viagra. Pfizer follows on the heels of Purdue Pharma, which began tagging every 100-tablet bottle of the painkiller OxyContin in 2004.

RFID supporters downplay the prospect that you'll take home a tracking device with your heart medicine or birth-control pills. But no restrictions are in place to protect consumers from such situations, and Pfizer acknowledges in an FAQ that "it's possible but not very likely" that some RFID tags will leave pharmacies with Viagra users.

And despite privacy concerns, federal and state governments are pushing the pharmaceutical industry to use RFID, said Sara Shah, an RFID analyst, with ABI Research. The FDA has taken no official steps, but is pushing companies to do a better overall job of authenticating drugs. "It's not a law, it's not a requirement. It's just that they want people to get moving and try to figure out what to do."

[displacedtexan]

1. Cui bono?

Who benefits from this technology?

If, according to the article, the tiny bug can only be
detected 6 to 18 inches away from a scanner,
what's the friggin' point?

Pfizer pointed out, however, that its tags allow the company to authenticate Viagra but not track the pills from manufacturer to pharmacy to customer. Currently, RFID scanners can only pick up the tags at a distance of 6 to 18 inches, said John Jordon, president of worldwide field operations for Tagsys RFID, which provides RFID technology to Pfizer.

Am I missing something here? Are bogus drugs being
substituted for the real thing before they get to the consumer?

[Warpy]

2. No kidding

Some unscrupulous pharmies look for the counterfeit pills instead of the real thing. The customer is the one who needs the protection, and this won't do a damned thing for him.

The only protection it would offer is if Big Pill started sending their detail men around with scanners to spot check brand name drugs in pharmies. Cheaters could still swap the lookalikes into the bottles with the tags, though, so even that is ineffective.

It's beyond silly, a total waste of money unless you're already dealing with honest people, certainly not a given in these days of GOP mushy ethics.