For now, however, the 2-D bar code is generally considered a more reliable marker than the RFID tag-albeit one that takes longer to read, because it can't be scanned through packaging material using radio waves.

The crucial point of either marking mechanism is that each container be labeled with a unique, serialized number. That way, once bottle #1894892432 has been received by a pharmacy in Silver City, N.M., a bottle with #1894892432 can't also be authenticated by a pharmacy in Brunswick, Md. Otherwise, counterfeiters could simply churn out fake RF tags-or 2-D bar codes, for that matter-as easily as they churn out fake drugs, and there would be no central clearinghouse identifying the duplicates.

Myth 3: RFID technology can be used to mark pills, tablets and elixirs themselves.
When RFID boosters praise the technology as the solution to counterfeit drugs, here's one objection that Novartis's James Christian is quick to raise: No one is marking drugs, only the packaging.

"We have had experience with counterfeit product in genuine packaging, and genuine product in counterfeit packaging," says Christian, who is CSO of the $37 billion company based in Basel, Switzerland, which manufactures a variety of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. "The packaging isn't what's important."

What's more, he says, pharmaceutical products are routinely and legally repackaged in both the United States and the European Union. "If a pharmaceutical company invests a great deal of money into putting security devices in packaging, the product could easily be transferred legally to a package with no security device," he says. "And now someone has a collection of genuine packaging with security devices that they might throw away or use in another manner."

In Christian's opinion, at least, changing the rules that govern how legitimate drugs are distributed could be more effective than using RFID technology in defeating counterfeit drugs. This could mean changing repackaging laws or increasing penalties for counterfeiters. Whether any of this would be easier to accomplish, though, is anyone's guess.

Myth 4: RFID technology will let consumers verify that they have purchased legitimate products.
The ultimate goal of using RFID technology as part of an electronic pedigree or track-and-trace program is to allow customers to know that the drugs they have in their medicine cabinet are authentic ones. "The benefit is at the consumer end-knowing that the product you're getting came from where it should have come from," says Julie Kuhn, vice president of operations, healthcare supply chain services at Cardinal Health, the $81 billion wholesaler based in Dublin, Ohio.