 By Tiffany Overstreet, global director of innovation at MM Pharma & HC Packaging
Pharmaceutical supply chains have always demanded precision, but the demands being placed on them today by the complexity of modern therapies, tightening regulation, and growing pressure to do more with less, are of a different magnitude.
Biologics, temperature-sensitive injectables, and GLP-1 therapies require handling protocols that leave little room for error. As serialisation systems establish themselves as the baseline for track-and-trace compliance, the question of what comes next is increasingly being asked. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is emerging as one part of the answer, providing an additional layer of intelligence that can support visibility, accuracy and control across the supply chain.
Inside the hospital: where RFID can add real value
Some of the most practical applications for RFID are being explored within hospital environments, where the pressure to reduce errors, manage costs and account for every unit of stock, is high.
In hospital pharmacy management, RFID can support the tracking of medications from central storage through to dispensing, enabling more accurate inventory counts in less time without the manual effort barcode-based systems demand. A pharmacist scanning individual items one at a time is not only time-consuming but also introduces a risk of human error. RFID readers can identify, track and record multiple tagged items simultaneously, helping to reduce discrepancies between recorded and actual stock levels. Additionally, RFID supports better inventory management reducing stockouts, overstocking, and ensuring expired drugs are easily identified which improves safety.
At the patient level, RFID is being explored to support medication verification at multiple steps in the dispensing and administration process. Confirming the right medicine is reaching the right individual aligns closely with the broader agenda around reducing medication errors; a persistent challenge in inpatient settings. For biologics, controlled substances, and high-cost injectables specifically, RFID can support visibility throughout internal hospital flows, flagging if a product is handled outside expected parameters. The technology functions as a complement to existing governance processes, not as a substitute for them.
Supply chain optimisation: An additional layer of intelligence
Beyond the hospital, RFID has a meaningful role at the supply chain level. The pharma industry has invested significantly in serialisation infrastructure under mandates such as the EU Falsified Medicines Directive and the US Drug Supply Chain Security Act. RFID complements serialization by adding the dimension of real-time, automated visibility that barcode-based serialisation alone cannot deliver at scale.
Where serialisation records the identity of each individual unit, RFID can track its location and movement dynamically. This enables faster goods receipt, automated stock rotation and more targeted recall execution. It also has potential to reduce waste through expiry and the operational disruption that comes from unexpected product shortages.
Why now, and why packaging is important
Several factors are strengthening the case for RFID. Therapy complexity is increasing, distribution models are diversifying, and digital infrastructure built to support serialisation compliance provides a foundation that RFID can build on. The cost profile of tags has also improved as steady adoption in logistics, retail, and healthcare begins to drive volumes up and prices down. Hospitals and inpatient care environments are also facing constraints and using RFID to manage inventory will reduce the time healthcare practitioners spend checking product in the hospital and increase their time with patients.
None of this intelligence is realisable without reliable integration at the packaging level. Labels and folding cartons are the natural home for RFID tags in secondary pharmaceutical packaging and embedding them in a way that performs consistently across production, distribution, and use, requires careful planning. Tags must survive the full journey from manufacturing line to dispensing point without affecting line performance or packaging integrity. Experienced packaging partners like MM Pharma & Healthcare Packaging, involved early in the design process, can ensure that integration is planned rather than retrofitted.
Packaging incorporating RFID must also continue to fulfil its core function if the smart features are inactive at any point in the chain. The physical pack remains the baseline, and connected capability sits on top of that foundation.
RFID is not a universal catch-all solution, and the investment in tags, readers, and data infrastructure needs to be justified by clearly defined use cases. But the conditions that have historically constrained adoption are shifting, and the conversation about practical implementation, is worth starting early.
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