ABDA and Aegate to evaluate anti-counterfeiting system
Patient safety communications firm Aegate is working with the Federal Union of German Associations of Pharmacists (ABDA) to evaluate the benefits of a drugs authentication system in Germany.
Patient safety communications firm Aegate is working with the Federal Union of German Associations of Pharmacists (ABDA) to evaluate the benefits of a drugs authentication system in Germany.
Aegate has also presented the system to the Bundesverband der Pharmazeutischen Industrie (German Pharmaceutical Association (BPI)).
The system, which is already operational in Belgium, Greece and Italy, enables individual medicinal packs to be authenticated by the pharmacist before they are dispensed, confirming that items are in date and not recalled or potentially counterfeit. The system also provides pharmacists with the latest drug safety information during the dispensing process.
ABDA and the BPI require this authentication programme to co-exist with the current reimbursement framework in Germany. They also want to be able to evaluate a 2D Data-matrix serialisation technology.
"The fight against counterfeit drugs is one of the most important efforts in protecting consumers," said ABDA president Heinz-Guenter Wolf.
"To be prepared in the future against the growing international crime of forgery in the highly profitable drugs market, we started this project to test a technology that can provide even more safety for the public."
The evaluation will take seven months and include numerous pharmacies throughout Germany as well as 15 pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesalers. Full-scale implementation will then follow.
The forthcoming European Commission directive on counterfeit medicines, which seeks mandatory safety features that will permit identification, authentication and traceability on all medicine packs, is due to be completed during 2010.
