Digital identification specialist Avery Dennison and pharma supply chain specialist Controlant have launched an IoT device that provides real-time end-to-end visibility in the pharmaceutical supply chain. The Saga Card consists of multiple components including a cellular modem with LTE-M and NB-IoT (narrowband IoT), an integrated nuSIM, a zinc-based battery, and sensors.

When combined with Controlant’s Aurora cloud platform, the device provides real-time inventory visibility at country, region, and city levels to pharma companies, packaging providers and logistics companies serving the pharma industry.

The device generates data as medicines cross multiple handover points in the journey to the patient, making it easier for pharma companies to monitor and control inventories and reduce waste.

Gisli Herjolfsson, CEO and co-founder, Controlant, said: “With $35 billion lost in the pharmaceutical industry every year due to failures in temperature-controlled logistics, the benefits of end-to-end visibility into the flow of medicines and vaccines down to the unit level creates an incredible opportunity to revolutionize how the pharma supply chain operates. Saga Card has been developed in collaboration with our consortium partners including Avery Dennison, and will have a significant impact on minimizing waste, ensuring patient safety, and bringing us closer to zero-waste pharma supply chains.”

Barbara van Rymenam, senior director of healthcare, Avery Dennison, said: “The pharma industry has long lacked an effective real-time, end-to-end supply chain visibility solution. Due to the highly regulated and complex supply network, industry adoption of new technologies is typically slow. These parameters call for a specific set of knowledge and expertise to bring a solution to the market that ticks all the boxes. The new IoT device extends the visibility to the point of care or the patient by tracking the product on the unit or case level, addressing the needs of the dynamic cold chain market where selecting the right solutions is crucial based on the value, urgency, and requirements of the medicines being shipped.”