BT9, a new entrant in continuous cold-chain monitoring, aims to establish a pharma user base in 2013

Details are sketchy at the moment, but if all goes well, a newly formed company, BT9 (Migdal Tefen, Israel) aims to be introducing a pharma-specific version of its Xsense monitoring technology to the North American market in mid-2013. The company is a recent spinout from StePac, L.A., which has extensive experience in temperature-controlled shipping of perishable foods “from field to shelf,” as Israel Ben-Tzur, cofounder and CEO, puts it.

Ben-Tzur, who says that there are already over 200 clients, worldwide, for its perishable-food monitoring, characterizes Xsense as a low-cost, Web-based network built on a “radio frequency, but not RFID” technology. Sensors pass relevant data via cellular telecommunications. The system includes automated controls to send alarms or other notifications when temperature readings are exceeded. Relative humidity is one of other types of readings that can be made. The tags are said to cost less than $10 each, which could make the system more affordable than current systems with electronic dataloggers.