HONOLULU, HI — Cellular Bioengineering Inc. (CBI) announces its development of a novel technology that can help prevent not only counterfeit airplane parts, among other goods.
CBI's TruTag presents a breakthrough in the fight against counterfeit medicine, food, and consumer goods. The tags are made of the highest purity silica, rendering them biologically inert and edible. Each tag contains a custom-manufactured 'spectral signature' chosen from over one trillion possibilities. The unique choice of tag signature and product combination is the TruTag key to confirming the authenticity of the product.
"The ability to authenticate and track individual pills is an exciting and potentially valuable tool in the effort to fight counterfeit pharmaceuticals," says Paul Kocher, Founder and Chief Scientist, Cryptography Research Inc.
"I believe CBI is breaking ground on a new modality of safety, assurance and information essential for consumers and the U.S. Government," says Admiral Thomas Fargo USN (Ret.), Former Commander U.S. Pacific Command. "This project has the potential to save lives and make a significant contribution towards the safety and authentication of wide ranging goods and products."
At present, the primary means of tracking and verifying is through packaging and labeling. However, technologies such as radio-frequency identifiers (RFIDs) are not amenable to direct tagging of small or consumable items. The cheapest RFIDs are also relatively expensive at 7 to 15 cents each. Package-based security is also inherently weak since the valued product is not the package, but the item contained.
Trutag's signature can be measured and authenticated via a portable spectrometer-based optical reader. The TruTag system can be designed to be either self-authenticating or can rely on external product information stored remotely, for example, in a secure online database. The self-authentication process includes both a code on the packaging and a code stored in the tag combined to form a digital signature. A security violation would result if someone tampers with either the container or its contents. Each tag may also reference a custom database, where additional information about the item can be stored, such as a link to an e-pedigree track and trace system.
TruTags are passive, inconspicuous, and can be attached either to the outside of items to be read, for example, through clear plastic blister packs, or mixed into items as a forensic excipient, to be read as part of an inspection process or investigation by authorized security or quality assurance personnel.
The microtags are encoded with information purely in their depth, rather than along their surface. They can be broken into pieces, with each piece still containing all of the encoded information. This makes porous silica microtags suitable for forensic applications, where the tag may be subjected to rough handling. As long as any piece of the tag can be recovered, the information is not lost.
So, even after the use and disposal of a product, a silica microtag will be expected to survive. This is in contrast to RFID, which requires internal electrical connectivity, and UPC codes which require that the surface of the code remain intact.
CBI is developing TruTag technology with the award of a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Army to help combat counterfeit drugs, and has established collaboration with Silicon Kinetics Inc. of San Diego, CA, and its porous silicon labs in Maui, HI.
