Five years ago, many in the industry were convinced that wireless technologies would ultimately deliver the lion share of supply chain security improvements in the life sciences, leading to the eventual elimination of most counterfeit drugs from US-based distribution channels. However, RFID and related wireless technologies have been slow to reach critical mass due to a mixture of lacking standards, cost issues, and reliability concerns. At the beginning 2009, 43% of companies were assessing RFID (doubling from 21% a year earlier) and 20% had actually implemented RFID in some fashion within their organization. Use cases ranged widely from the track & trace of drugs, to areas like biospecimen tracking and sample management. The greatest traction had come in areas where companies had full control over the technology's application without 3rd party adoption dependence (such as in supply chain situations).

The hospital sector in France is undergoing major reforms. IDC Health Insights EMEA has just completed a special research study focused on the combined implications of changes in the French healthcare system, the role of ICT, and the delivery of care. During the study IDC Health Insights analysts interviewed representatives from 150 hospitals across France as well as members of the IT vendor community.  Our findings suggest that executives in the larger hospitals envisage a more significant role for technology as France's healthcare reform is implemented, but the challenge will be ensuring that the technology is used to improve patient care and treatment.