Electronic Tracking and Radio Frequency Identification Expected to Deliver Added Layer of Safety on Pharmaceutical Supply Chain, Cardinal Health Says

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DUBLIN, Ohio, Dec. 8, 2004 - Following its participation today in the Florida Department of Health Electronic Pedigree Rule Development Workshop, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH), the leading provider of products and services supporting the health care industry, said that it strongly backs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) as an added layer of security for the pharmaceutical supply chain and is committed to working with the industry to achieve accuracy rates as close to 100 percent as possible.

As a leader in medication and patient safety, Cardinal Health has participated in a number of RFID initiatives designed to improve safety measures in the pharmaceutical supply chain. In addition, the company’s broad health care offerings address patient safety with products and services such as Alaris® intravenous infusion pumps, Pyxis® medication automation products, CardinalASSIST® logistics and replenishment program and TiburonTM surgical drapes designed to prevent infection.

“Electronic tracking is the most viable approach to deliver additional levels of security in the pharmaceutical supply chain and improve inventory management,” said Gary Dolch, executive vice president of Global Quality and Regulatory Affairs for Cardinal Health. “However, the industry must be diligent in improving the accuracy of read rates to as close to 100 percent as possible in order to enable widespread adoption. We can not afford anything less when it comes to the product safety.”

The RFID technology places electronic tags with tiny radio tracking devices on packages to trace their movement through the supply chain. The future of RFID will allow for more rapid recalls and will improve distribution efficiencies while helping pharmaceutical companies throughout the supply chain better manage their inventories.

Cardinal Health was a member of an industry pilot program called JumpStart. Other program participants included pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and retailers. The pilot was led by Accenture. The first phase of JumpStart ended this fall, during which a subset of pharmaceutical products were outfitted with RFID tags to track their movements through the pharmaceutical supply chain. The tags were removed before being dispensed to consumers.

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