What is Anti-Counterfeiting Packaging?

Medical packaging faces many challenges and counterfeiting is perhaps the most serious. Counterfeit medicines pose various threats and result in a significant loss of money for big pharma every year.

And the threat shows no signs of slowing, with the global counterfeit drugs market believed to be worth up to $432 billion.

Thankfully, steps are being taken to combat the issue. In this guide, Origin explores anti-counterfeiting efforts in the pharmaceutical packaging industry and what future efforts are expected to look like.

What is anti-counterfeiting in pharma?

Counterfeit medicines are any drug that has deliberately and fraudulently been mislabelled. This covers a full range of criminal efforts:

  • Drugs with incorrect labels
  • Drugs with incorrect expiry dates
  • Fake packaging for medicine
  • Medicine with the right ingredients but the wrong dosage is written on the packaging
  • Medicine that lacks the active ingredients

The challenge for the pharma industry is that counterfeit products are hard to distinguish from real ones. This is where anti-counterfeiting comes in.

Anti-counterfeiting refers to all the different methods and techniques used to help protect the supply chain of pharmaceutical goods. Strategies are put in place to help limit the number of counterfeit products on the market for consumers and patients to unwittingly purchase.

Pharma companies work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that their products aren’t being copied and that fake versions are not being distributed.

The biggest challenges in anti-counterfeiting

The biggest challenge in anti-counterfeiting is that there are simply so many counterfeit medicines on the market. In fact, The World Health Organisation claims that one million people die each year from taking fake or substandard medicines.

And thanks to online technologies, it’s easier than ever for someone to sell counterfeit medicine over the internet while posing as a legitimate pharmaceutical business. Patients are looking for convenience – they don’t want to visit their doctor, go through the steps to get a prescription and then head to the local pharmacy. This is why they turn to the internet marketplace – and with so many criminals out there distributing fake drugs online, it’s difficult for anti-counterfeiting measures to keep up with them.

Another issue is that technology makes it easier for people to create counterfeit medical products. Consumers and patients don’t always know what to look for when deciding if something is real or not, so more counterfeits enter the supply chain without being detected.

Anti-counterfeit solutions

With the pharmaceutical industry fighting back against the growing threat of fake drugs, there is a range of solutions being developed to help track legitimate products across the supply chain and highlight fraudulent efforts.

The anti-counterfeit pharmaceuticals and cosmetics packaging market is expected to be worth $316 billion by 2030 as patient safety efforts increase to combat the risks.

Here, we take a look at some of the key technologies leading the way in the anti-counterfeit space.

Serialisation

Serialisation is an anti-counterfeiting method used to distinguish the real from the fake – and it’s one of the easiest tools to implement.

Products are given unique serial numbers that allow them to be traced all the way from the manufacturer to the patient. These numbers are typically shown on the packaging labels as barcodes. This number contains a host of information about that particular product, this includes:

  • Product origin
  • Product batch
  • Expiry date

As a result, products can be tracked as they move from place to place and exchange hands. This ensures that real items are making their way all the way to the patient – rather than disappearing somewhere along the supply chain.

When you notice that a specific serial number has suddenly become inactive or hasn’t made its way to a patient, then this sounds the alarm bells. The good news is you’ll know where it stopped its original journey, which helps point the finger at potential counterfeiting being done.

Serialisation also helps distinguish fake products from real ones. If a drug doesn’t have a recognisable serial number, then it’s just a pure counterfeit. This method has helped catch out and limit the number of counterfeit products circulating around the world.

Tamper-proof packaging

Another way to combat the threat of fake drugs is through tamper-proof and tamper-resistant packaging.

Tamper-proof solutions are designed to tell the patient when a product has been previously handled or opened. This can include single-use tabs, tape and labels that cannot be reattached to the container – highlighting when the container has been opened and suggesting the contents may have been tampered with.

Other tamper-proof solutions include Smart Tracking technologies embedded into primary and secondary packaging that log events across a product’s lifespan. This allows every medicine to be interrogated as it is scanned upon dispensing to reveal any unauthorised journey routes or interventions between manufacturer and patient.

The future of anti-counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical industry

The threat of fake drugs will always be present in big pharma. The industry is simply too valuable for counterfeits to not be around. However, the future of drug development will undoubtedly be built around the idea of anti-counterfeiting.

Manufacturers are considering various options to help make real drugs more unique and harder to copy.

Innovative technology is being implemented to help track packaging and prevent the loss of genuine medicines through the supply chain. Fake drugs will continue to rise, but the number of anti-counterfeiting measures will increase with them.

There will also be an emphasis on informing the public about counterfeit drugs. Education on what to look for can help cut down on the number of people who unknowingly purchase fake drugs online.

Anti-counterfeiting solutions from Origin

Origin is an industry leader in secure and compliant pharmaceutical packaging, including a range of tamper-proof containers.

For more information on the future of anti-counterfeiting efforts and how Origin can support you in your journey, speak to our expert team today.

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