Beyond any doubt, the healthcare and pharma segments are among the most promising growth areas for RFID. Tracking and tracing of pharmaceutical items on a unit-of-use basis offers particularly exciting business opportunities – that can best be seized with Tageos’ new EOS-202 inlay.

Launched in August 2021, Tageos’ EOS-202 U9 wasn’t the market’s first inlay designed for unit-of-use medications and specimens in pharmaceutical applications. It is not the only one that carries some indispensable approvals and certifications, either. Yet, it definitely is a game-changer in its segment.

With its new RAIN RFID product, Tageos does more than simply expand the range of DoseID certified and ARC Spec S approved inlays designed for that particular purpose. Instead, the RFID innovation driver is upgrading that range with a product of unique capabilities.

Superior ARC certified solution for unit-of-use medications

The new RAIN RFID inlay features a sophisticated, very-small-footprint antenna design measuring just 20x10 mm (wet inlay finished size 22x12 mm) alongside NXP’s state-of-the-art UCODE 9 IC. The chip and the antenna design tailored to it make EOS-202 U9 the market’s smallest RAIN RFID inlay (as of fall 2021) to exhibit strong performance across all types of items currently tested according to ARC Spec S for healthcare and pharmaceutical applications.

Its industry-leading read sensitivity and reliability, even in dense RFID tag populations, make the EOS-202 U9 viable for use across the latest portfolio of tested items outlined by ARC Spec S, including clear and amber liquid glass vials, clear glass powder vials, plastic/COC syringes, plastic syringe caps and plastic blow-fill-seal vials. That performance edge pays off in a wide range of hospital, pharmaceutical and inventory management workflows, and comes without any size disadvantage compared to other existing certified inlays. Tageos’ new product is available in dry, wet, and paper-face formats in large quantities as of now.

A wish come true: One size fits all

“The new EOS-202 U9 inlay underpins our strong commitment to always provide our customers with the most advanced products in terms of maximum performance, quality and sustainability. With its unique combination of the smallest size and optimum read characteristics in challenging environments, the new inlay provides the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector with the ultimate ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution,” said Chris Reese, Head of Product Management at Tageos. “Because of its broad range of applications, we consider the EOS-202 U9 as a true breakthrough product in the market”.

That notion is shared by both Tageos customer Kit Check, the leading provider of automated medication tracking solutions for hospital pharmacies in the U.S., and by DoseID, the first member-driven industry consortium for the use of RFID in the healthcare space. “We are excited to have access to a new product that combines the smallest size in the market with unique suitability for all relevant packaging items. It certainly looks like the EOS-202 U9 delivers on its ‘one-size-fits-all’ promise – and that is good news for us and for all of our customers,” said Kevin MacDonald, co-founder and CEO of Kit Check.

Tim Kress-Spatz, member of the Board of Directors at DoseID, agrees: “It's good to see our list of certified inlays growing. The fact that there is now a product that passes all ARC Spec S tests also confirms that our certification and testing concept makes it very easy for customers to choose the right solution.”