Once known to be the land of medicine and the birthplace of Ayurveda, today, modern India finds its markets adulterated with 20 percent counterfeit drugs. The United States Trade Representative (USTR) calls out India for being one of the leading sources of counterfeit pharmaceutical products.
India ranks third in the volume of drugs produced, and its pharmaceutical market is estimated to grow to $55 billion by 2020. As the sector welcomes growth, it stands a constant threat of counterfeiting. An estimated one in ten medical products being circulated in markets is either substandard or illicit. This disturbing fact jeopardizes the stance of the country, given that it predominantly exports to the USA, UK, Canada, and others. India finds itself in a tight spot after being in the USTR’s ‘priority watch list’ for violation of intellectual property rights (IPR).
Hit on business: The murky trade of counterfeiting eats into the share of its legitimate counterpart and is known to dampen its image. The increasing demand for drugs and other medical supplies makes it an even easier hide for counterfeit producers. Counterfeiting incurred the industry losses of 878 million dollars, according to a report by the FICCI, while globally, 14.85 billion dollars are lost to the same effect. Not only does the private sector take a hit, but the government suffers losses- as these illegitimate sources refrain from paying due taxes.
Adoption of generics: In an attempt to make medication affordable to the rural masses, the government has introduced generic drugs into the market. Generic medicines are sold unbranded- creating a loophole for proliferators to exploit. Life and health: Without a doubt, consumption of adulterated medicine can more than harm a patient- by not acting on a disease or by worsening his/her condition further, to being detrimental to life. Unfortunately, it is the aftermath of consumption that leads to identification Counterfeiting is a crime undercover and is often difficult to detect. However, by the implementation of best practices, this theft can be curbed to a large extent.
Strategies to overcome counterfeiting:
Unique package identification: Bar codes and RFID tags are best known to be identifiers of genuine products. Holographs can be leveraged to add an extra level of security. Sadly, counterfeiters have found ways to mimic these mechanisms, as well.
Track and Trace: In the US, the Drug Quality and Security Act (DSCSA) was signed into law by President Obama in 2013. The law required pharmaceutical companies to implement a track-and-trace system for prescription drugs to increase the transparency of the supply chain, from manufacturer to pharmacy. The aim of implementing serialization was to strengthen the supply chain. Forty countries adopted this technology by which all drug products are tagged using a unique 2-D matrix barcode. These unique codes are placed on each package and can be scanned at any level of the supply chain, giving a clear picture of the movement of the product.
Mobile Authentication System: Approximately 78 percent of India’s 650 million mobile phone users have access to the internet, and using this extensive reach can be an effective way to tackle this concern at the earliest. Sproxil, with its innovative product ‘Sproxil DefenderTM ‘, places the power to spot an illicit in the hands of a consumer, thus adopting a consumer-oriented approach. Using a mobile phone, consumers can simply SMS the unique numeric code present on the purchased drug to Sproxil’s proprietary Mobile Authentication SystemTM (MAS). This technology helps the consumer identify in a matter of seconds if the purchase is legitimate or counterfeit. The service is based on asymmetric encryption, the same technology that powers trillions of dollars in bank transfers and e-commerce worldwide.Counterfeiting is an evil that will meet its end when consumer awareness and technology join hands. Anti-counterfeiting is a responsibility that lies on the shoulders of this industry to seek to make counterfeiting challenging to implement.
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Adoption of generics: In an attempt to make medication affordable to the rural masses, the government has introduced generic drugs into the market. Generic medicines are sold unbranded- creating a loophole for proliferators to exploit. Life and health: Without a doubt, consumption of adulterated medicine can more than harm a patient- by not acting on a disease or by worsening his/her condition further, to being detrimental to life. Unfortunately, it is the aftermath of consumption that leads to identification Counterfeiting is a crime undercover and is often difficult to detect. However, by the implementation of best practices, this theft can be curbed to a large extent.
Strategies to overcome counterfeiting:
Unique package identification: Bar codes and RFID tags are best known to be identifiers of genuine products. Holographs can be leveraged to add an extra level of security. Sadly, counterfeiters have found ways to mimic these mechanisms, as well.
Track and Trace: In the US, the Drug Quality and Security Act (DSCSA) was signed into law by President Obama in 2013. The law required pharmaceutical companies to implement a track-and-trace system for prescription drugs to increase the transparency of the supply chain, from manufacturer to pharmacy. The aim of implementing serialization was to strengthen the supply chain. Forty countries adopted this technology by which all drug products are tagged using a unique 2-D matrix barcode. These unique codes are placed on each package and can be scanned at any level of the supply chain, giving a clear picture of the movement of the product.
Mobile Authentication System: Approximately 78 percent of India’s 650 million mobile phone users have access to the internet, and using this extensive reach can be an effective way to tackle this concern at the earliest. Sproxil, with its innovative product ‘Sproxil DefenderTM ‘, places the power to spot an illicit in the hands of a consumer, thus adopting a consumer-oriented approach. Using a mobile phone, consumers can simply SMS the unique numeric code present on the purchased drug to Sproxil’s proprietary Mobile Authentication SystemTM (MAS). This technology helps the consumer identify in a matter of seconds if the purchase is legitimate or counterfeit. The service is based on asymmetric encryption, the same technology that powers trillions of dollars in bank transfers and e-commerce worldwide.Counterfeiting is an evil that will meet its end when consumer awareness and technology join hands. Anti-counterfeiting is a responsibility that lies on the shoulders of this industry to seek to make counterfeiting challenging to implement.
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