Rondo present solutions for the use of nfc technology in the pharmaceutical industry with the aim is to create new interactive communication paths between pharma manufacturers and patients and between the patient, the physician and the pharmacy, through the incorporation of radio chips. Rondo ag presents solutions for socalled "smart packaging" at fachpack 2015 in nuremberg and subsequently at cphi in madrid, spain.they are based on the integration of an nfc chip andor an electrochromic display into pharmaceutical packaging. The possible applications are manifold. They range from reading out the enclosed leaflet via automatic reordering of medicines to the provision of additional information, for example on the correct administration of a medicine patient compliance or the correct use of a medicinal product.
The nfc chip is incorporated when the packaging is manufactured and transmits its information by radio as soon as a terminal which can read it is within range. To do this, a smartphone is placed on the packaging of the pharmaceutical product. "the difference and the advantage compared with solutions using rfid codes lies in the small distance between transmitter and receiver, which must be complied with", explain mike bernhardt, product manager at rondo. "this means your data cannot be read over a greater distance. This increases data security quite considerably."at fachpack and cphi, rondo presented two applications. In the first case, after the smartphone was placed on the packaging, the enclosed leaflet was read out. In the second example, the medicine was able to be reordered electronically after the telephone was placed on the packaging. In the process, the customer&39s name, the medicine and the dosage are indicated on the display. Pressing an appropriate button orders the prescription automatically from the doctor and the medicine is ordered from the pharmacy.
A confirmation for the patient then appears on the mobile phone. "we want to enable communication between everyone involved by integrating nfc chips", say mike bernhardt. The chips also have an important security benefit. Each chip can be provided with a unique serial number, assigned by the manufacturer. The use of this number means that pharmaceutical products are better protected from counterfeiting. That is particularly advantageous for providing proof of originality of products which are ordered on the internet. &ldquo rondo&39s second approach to smart packaging is the integration of an electrochromic display into a wallet pack. The company demonstrated such a display in which information about whether a tablet had been taken or not is displayed. "in this case we focus here on the increased userfriendliness of the packaging &ldquo, explains bernhardt. "however, such displays can also be used for tamper evidence".
