R4 Global Services last week announced a packaged set of hardware and software components designed for pharmaceutical firms trying to meet Wal-Mart's Schedule II RFID mandate.

Schedule II compliance as laid out by Wal-Mart requires drug companies to apply RFID tags at the item level on U.S. DEA Schedule II pharmaceutical products they ship to the retail giant. The mandate also requires that manufacturers collect RFID tag information and make it synchronizable with UCCnet, an item-registration standard established by the Uniform Code Council.

Schedule II drugs are highly regulated, prescription narcotics such as Ritalin and Morphine.

R4's Accelerate Solution for Schedule II Compliance is designed to address drug companies' short-term need for compliance and their long-term need to develop a more scalable technology architecture using RFID in the supply chain.

The package includes third-party tag readers, a print-and-apply application for production lines, a PC controller responsible for data storage, middleware that interfaces with readers and antennas, and basic ERP integration.

RFID technology is cost-effective for use with Schedule II drugs because of their relative expense, which ranges up to $40,000 at the pallet level, said R4 vice president of technology Charles Rice.

San Francisco-based R4 is charging between $125,000 and $175,000 for the package, depending on the number of drug products involved and the volume being shipped.