GlaxoSmithKline and Sproxil, Inc. Honored as First Recipients of ISMP’s George DiDomizio Industry AwardMobile based Anti-Counterfeit Program in Nigeria Recognized

Sproxil, Inc., in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, has been named the first recipient of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices’ (ISMP) George DiDomizio Industry Award for their joint work to prevent the spread of counterfeit medications. The award is part of ISMP’s 15th annual Cheers Awards – a program honoring individuals, organizations, and companies that have set a standard of excellence for others to follow in the prevention of medication errors and adverse drug events. The George DiDomizio Industry Award honors members of the pharmaceutical industry that have made important and lasting contributions to patient safety. Sproxil and GlaxoSmithKline will be honored at an awards ceremony on December 4, 2012 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.

Sproxil collaborated with GlaxoSmithKline and Nigeria’s regulatory organization, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration & Control (NAFDAC), in 2011 on a pilot anti-counterfeiting program with the antibiotic Amplicox distributed in Nigeria. Consumers could send a scratch-off code from the medication package via a text message to a central toll-free phone number.

The mobile service would then look up the code and send a verification text back indicating whether the drug is genuine, potentially fake, or stolen. Another toll-free phone number was provided for consumers to call Sproxil’s consumer support desk if they had questions or would like to verify by phone instead of SMS text. The support desk captures key market information from the consumer, including locations of purchases and any tip offs for instances of potentially counterfeit drugs. During the pilot, more than 480,000 patients sent more than 600,000 text message verifications. Of those text verifications, 2.5% of the messages led to a counterfeit alert.