Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields in UHF Band of an Insulin Preparation: Biological Effects

The item-level tracing and tracking requirements are growing more and more in the pharmaceutical sector, where the counterfeiting problem and the significant fragmentation of the market contribute significantly to complicate the scenario. The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology holds the promise to eliminate many of the previous problems. Unfortunately, there are still some barriers limiting the largescale deployment of these innovative technologies. Currently, it is not easy finding an exhaustive analysis about potential effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields of the RFID systems on drugs. This work aimed to evaluate the effects of RFID systems on the molecular structure and potency of a biological drug. In particular, some samples of a commercial human insulin preparation (ActrapidTM) were exposed for different periods to electromagnetic fields generated by RFID devices in UHF band. In order to evaluate both possible alterations of the molecular structure and possible adverse effects on drug performance, the following techniques have been used: Reverse Phase-High Pressure Liquid Chromatography and in vitro cell proliferation assays. The experimental results have shown that the electromagnetic field generated by UHF RFID devices does not cause significant biological effects on ActrapidTM insulin.