Tech Companies Team Up to Offer RFID Anti-Counterfeiting Technology

Two technology companies have teamed up to produce an anti-counterfeiting technology that could help with the identification of fake drugs.

One company produces a relatively inexpensive radio tag and the other makes an affordable reader, according to VentureBeat.com.

The technology employed in these devices is radio frequency identification (RFID). The tag transmits a radio wave that the reader scans and then displays a red light if the drug is counterfeit and green if it is authentic.

According to the news source, there are always tiny and unnoticeable differences when chips are produced. The company developing the RFID tags is using this uniqueness to its advantage, making each of its chips different than any other and thus almost impossible to duplicate, reports the news source.

RFID tags are one of the many anti-counterfeiting technologies being produced. Another consumer-oriented approach involves text messaging. In this approach, drug packaging has an identification number that consumers text to authorities who verify the drugs’ authenticity and relay the information back.

The two companies are hoping that their anti-counterfeiting technology can help with the counterfeit drug problem in Africa.