It is estimated that counterfeit drugs are currently worth more than US$75bn in global trade and criminals are becoming increasingly competent in packaging their products. Detecting that a product is counterfeit is not straightforward. In some cases, it results from basic mistakes made by the counterfeiter; for example, something as obvious as a spelling error on packaging is quite common. Counterfeiters spend a lot of money on sophisticated packaging and labels and then simple errors are often overlooked.
Other indicators can be more subtle; for example, bottle shapes may not be perfectly matched or the colour shade of a bottle may be slightly incorrect – perhaps a simple difference between amber and a light brown. Odours from the pills themselves may also be unusual or the pills may leave an unusually high level of powder residue because they have been formulated incorrectly with the use of chalk. Labels are another key indicator: if a label comes off too easily then this can be a sign of counterfeit activity and will be sent back to a pharmaceutical company for inspection.
One method adopted by many pharmaceutical companies to prevent counterfeit problems is to integrate security within the product packaging. In the healthcare market this can include a variety of technologies that can be integrated into the product packaging – be it a carton, label, overwrap or specialised tear tape. Bespoke packaging solutions can carry a variety of sophisticated brand protection devices, including layering overt and covert authentication and tamper-evidence technologies alongside the brand design features.
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