A low-power smart packaging system could help pharmacists verify medicine storage histories, reduce unnecessary pharmaceutical waste, and enable safer future prescription medicine reuse pathways.
AZo Sensors reports on SPaRAS (Smart Packaging and Returns Assessment System), a low-cost smart packaging platform developed by researchers to monitor the environmental conditions surrounding dispensed medicines. By combining customisable sensors with near-field communication (NFC), the system could help pharmacists verify whether returned medicines have remained within appropriate storage conditions.
Large quantities of prescription medicines are currently discarded because their storage history cannot be confirmed after dispensing. Exposure to unsuitable temperatures and humidity fluctuations can affect pharmaceutical ingredients and compromise safety, particularly for vaccines, biological products and other temperature-sensitive medicines.
SPaRAS addresses this challenge by continuously recording temperature, relative humidity and ambient light. Measurements are taken at programmed intervals and stored with timestamps in non-volatile memory, creating a record of the environmental conditions experienced by each package. NFC technology allows pharmacists to retrieve this information quickly when medicines are returned.
The reported testing showed close agreement between the prototype and a standard environmental monitor. During a nine-day functionality test, simultaneous readings differed by an average of 0.24°C for temperature and 0.28% for relative humidity. The device also maintained stable data logging without memory corruption or false-trigger events.
The platform could support a more circular pharmaceutical supply chain by helping determine whether returned, unexpired medicines remain suitable for re-dispensing. It may also have applications in cold-chain logistics for vaccines and biologics, as well as clinical-trial medicines and emergency medical stockpiles.
Future development is expected to focus on miniaturising the hardware, moving towards application-specific circuit boards and conducting larger-scale clinical trials. These studies will be important for assessing long-term durability and performance under real-world conditions. If successfully developed, smart pharmaceutical packaging could help reduce avoidable medicine disposal while improving environmental traceability throughout healthcare supply chains.
