New label partnership to fight counterfeit drugs

Florida-based Orbid Corporation, a developer of secure track and trace systems used in the identification and protection of products, has entered into a partnership with CCL Label, which packs and labels many of the world's most widely used pharmaceutical products.

Orbid's patented 2DMI coding system will be incorporated into CCL Label's newly developed security packaging to give the pharmaceutical industry the unprecedented ability to track and trace products at the individual unit level.

The new security labels will provide manufacturers and pharmacies with the ability to verify that drug shipments, down to the smallest unit level, are authentic and authorised.

ORBID's 2DMI system utilises security marks that can be unobtrusively incorporated into any of CCL Label's packaging and label designs. Each 2DMI mark is unique and can be printed in virtually any colour or size, and on any surface while remaining rapidly scanable by commercial off-the-shelf cameras and standard imagers. Boxes, labels, and individual pills or capsules printed or etched with 2DMI marks are unique, and can be cross-checked for authenticity against a database kept only by the manufacturer.

2DMI is a closed system, and the marks themselves appear as unintelligible graphical representations of encrypted data. Only the manufacturer of the pharmaceutical will hold the unique algorithm that unlocks the data represented by the marks, making mass reproduction of marks by counterfeiters impossible.

'We are confident that this long-awaited coding system is the key to stopping counterfeiting, theft and diversion,' stated Rob Ryckman, director of marketing and product development of CCL's Healthcare Solution Group. 'With ORBID's 2DMI coding system, brand owners will be able to determine a drug's origin and have the ability to cross-check for authenticity as well.'

'With this innovative labelling and packaging it will be possible to validate the authenticity of pharmaceutical products throughout the supply chain, from manufacturer, to distributor, to pharmacy, to consumer,' added Kevin T. Simmons, managing director of sales for Orbid. 'As the debate on the rising costs of drugs for consumers continues, this new tracking capability gives the pharmaceutical industry the ability to demonstrate to authorities all over the world that there are existing and cost-effective ways to protect consumers from the growing threat of counterfeit pharmaceuticals.'