March 9, 2017 – Swiftsure Group has launched a solution for pharma to track temperature excursions when drugs and biologics deviate from specified ranges during storage, manufacturing and/or transportation. The company developed the solution for a multi-billion dollar client that produces more than 70 billion doses of product annually for approximately 7,000 customers worldwide.
Swiftsure Group’s turnkey solution uses passive UHF RFID and temperature sensors to track and record products’ time out of refrigeration (TOR), also known as time out of environment (TOE). The solution automatically identifies product, dwell time, location and environmental conditions. The aggregated data is used to both track products and automate notifications when temperature variances or critical lapsed TOR events occur or are anticipated.
RFID and sensor technologies boost pharma safety, compliance and profit margins
Swiftsure Group’s solution combines its proprietary RFID reader based on Impinj’s Indy RS2000 with EPC Gen-2 RFID/temperature sensor tags. When fully integrated with the client’s ERP system, Swiftsure’s solution will replace a mainly manual process for tracking products’ TOR during storage, staging and processing of formulation activities.
Swiftsure’s client engages in drug formulation, analytical testing, clinical and commercial manufacturing and clinical packaging. The FDA strictly regulates the company’s activities and processes, which are also subject to regular audits by customers for whom it produces encapsulated pharmaceuticals and biologics. Given the highly regulated environment in which Swiftsure’s client operates, the solution also provides an enhanced ability to provide timely, accurate data retrieval for forensics in case of product recalls.
While a pilot and subsequent implementations will initially focus on US production facilities, the 
solution is expected to expand to international locations using region-specific RFID tags and sensors. Automation of TOR-related data capture and integration with the client’s ERP system is expected to generate substantial savings in labor costs and improve operating margins.
Swiftsure Group is a systems developer and integrator specializing in RFID- and sensor-based solutions for healthcare, pharma, government, transportation, construction and other markets that require effective, reliable compliance, audit and safety management. Its proprietary software and hardware products include time out of refrigeration (TOR) solutions for cold chain as well as automatic data collection for tracking and verifying condition, maintenance and cleaning of IT and medical equipment.