The global pharma industry has so far remained the largest victim of counterfeiting. Though pharma packaging industry has witnessed radical changes in the last few years by updating itself with innovative technologies, technology invaders/infiltrators have time and again proved themselves equal to the task. However, on the other hand, despite the loopholes, the fact should be accepted that use of advanced technology has indeed helped reduce the incidences of counterfeiting to considerable levels.
Technology to the rescue
As the losses due to counterfeiting run into billions, the importance of technology rises further. For many years an array of security techniques were employed to safeguard the pharma products with fluctuating success ratios. Techniques like Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) track and trace tagging, different types of holograms, customised varnishes came handy but still fell short of completely safeguarding the pharma products. Meantime, packaging technology solution providers continued with their efforts to invent superior solutions for the pharma players.
Siddhartha Sengupta Regional Sales Director, Asia (Decoratives), Merck |
Siddhartha Sengupta, Regional Sales Director, Asia (Decoratives), Merck, explains, “Overt solutions from Merck use special pigments that change colour enabling the consumer to see visual effects without the use of any verification device and distinguish between real and fake products. Covert solutions are usually created for brand owners to identify their original product and are recognisable only through technical means. Brand owners could opt for overt solutions alone or even club them with covert solutions for complete brand protection. These solutions can be used for simple printing through processes like Gravure, Flexo or Screen as well as in overprint varnishing and mass colouration of plastics/ containers.”
The technology introduced by Merck is exceptional as it enables the consumer to identify original products by unique and visible colour shifts, quite unlike the commonly used holograms which are complex, difficult to differentiate and can be easily replicated. The pigments in the form of ink can be used even on existing design through simple modifications.
According to Shruti Bhat, Chief Operations Officer, Innoworks, Canada, understanding counterfeiters’ capabilities, skills, opportunities, tools and financial gains is important before developing a technology to avoid any misplay with the pharma product. While citing overt and covert techniques as among the important means for brand protection, Bhat adds, “Track and trace techniques — digital tools like SMS, cloud based management systems, e-Pedigree, serialisation, RFID, 2D barcodes and Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) are still in use.”
Plugging the loopholes
There is a continuous evolution in the measures employed for pharma brand protection. Each new technology comes with more advanced features. Though over the last decade technology for brand protection has witnessed a major facelift, counterfeiters still somehow manage to breach the security measures of the pharma product. Industry experts explain why.
Bhat highlights some of the important factors. She says, “Fakes can be made relatively cheap. Easy and cheap access to high quality graphic design technologies, combined with low cost scanners and imaging programmes provide the means to create realistic counterfeit package and labels.”
Speaking about the legal aspects, Bhat adds, “Many countries lack adequate regulations and/ or law enforcement. Even in the industrialised countries, the risk of prosecution and penalties are inadequate.” She further explains, “Drug prices vary among countries across the world and parallel trade is widespread, allowing counterfeit medicines to enter the supply chain. High cost of drug development and rising demand for prescription and OTC drugs coupled with rising supply shortages is also an issue. Moreover, problem is not recognised as more than a commercial issue associated with branded products.”
According to Sengupta, pharma is probably the easiest to counterfeit since there are cheap substitute drugs that are available in India. While highlighting non-technical factors, he says, “The government authority is not stringent. Counterfeiters can easily enter into the market, make profits and exit without being noticed.”
Prevention is the key
Murli Sundrani Business Director, BD Medical-Pharmaceutical Systems |
Wherever possible, product manufacturers themselves try to use technology in such a way that it would leave a very minimal chance for tampering with their products. By using high-end technology some of the drug delivery systems have been made almost resistant to counterfeiting. Murli Sundrani, Business Director, BD Medical Pharmaceutical Systems, elaborates, “Pre-filled syringes are a great example of how the injection process has been made convenient and safe.”
He adds, “Many new technology and packaging interventions are available now to ensure that any attempt to tamper or pilferage the drug product is identified and made visible on the packaging to give a clear indication to the user that it has been tampered with. Every detail including labels/ stickers to small seals and tamper-evident mechanisms are being used in the industry. These are quite simple but very effective tools”
Technology for all
There are various technologies available globally for brand protection. However, a single company cannot be in a possession of all the technologies. As per experts globally, pharma players can share their technological expertise to safeguard their products. As brand protection is a global concern it would benefit all the stakeholders.
“The process has already begun,” informs Bhat. Besides sharing their expertise, global pharma players have come together to take the legal route to curb the menace of counterfeiting. “In March 2013, pharma companies entered into an agreement with Interpol to boost the law enforcement community’s response to pharma crimes,” reveals Bhat. While stressing that there is no ‘one size fits all’ or a single magic bullet to safeguard the pharma product, Bhat talks about future technological possibilities that could be implemented for brand protection. She says, “Added layers of security features to products, and facilitate detection and identification of counterfeits through digital and analytical lab methodologies will find takers in the future. Techniques using Raman spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD) can be utilised to discover counterfeit drugs while still inside their packaging. Sophistication in chip-based RFID and non clonable ID technology (nCiD) will also play a major role. Solutions like Signature DNA technologies involve a platform consisting of custom DNA sequences, which are then embedded into a variety of host carriers such as ink. The ink is then printed on to the packaging using Flexo, Offset, Gravure or thermal transfer printing.”
According to Sengupta, Liquid Crystals (LC) will be the future in printing. This technology is already being used in currency notes. Invisible inks and hidden texts are other possibilities.
Technology is the backbone of any industry. Pharma industry deals with life and death of the consumers, so maintaining brand integrity has always remained a challenge for it. As the incidences of counterfeiting are still a common occurence, in future the major challenge would be to innovate a foolproof measure that will plug the loopholes found in currently available technologies.