5 ways packaging is bringing the fight to fake drugs
With drug counterfeiters increasing in number and determination, it’s crucial to be able to spot fraudulent medicines to stay safe. Here Scott McDougall, co-founder and registered manager of The Independent Pharmacy outlines five technological advancements that are taking the fight to fake drugs.
Identification features
A medicine’s packaging should include a wide range of identification features, and some are more obvious than others.
Covert features include holograms, intricate guilloches, and colour changing inks. These elements are immediately visible (although some may require close examination to spot) and are useful for quickly identifying counterfeits during the supply chain.
Covert features are harder to describe, and with good reason. These are hidden elements that are only detectable with special equipment, or if you know where to look.
This strategy is also used during the minting of currency. The new £1 coin released by the UK’s Royal Mint, for example, contains a number of hidden security features, detectable only by dedicated (and restricted) technology.
The markings on medicines work in the same way. For example, a medicine’s packaging might contain a chemical tag in the form of special ink. This holds a chemical signature that can only be spotted using technology specially designed for the task.
Blockchain
Blockchain is the technology that underpins digital currency because it applies sophisticated encryption to large sets of data. In simple terms, this means blockchain data is nearly impossible for forgers to manipulate.
But how can blockchain technology make the supply of pharmaceuticals safer? As a drug moves through the supply chain, blockchain tech time-stamps a product at each stage, ensuring its security.
Criminals can duplicate packaging, and the feel and look of authentic medicine. In fact, some are so skilled that it’s hard for even doctors to tell the difference. However, by providing concrete proof of what medicine has been delivered, who transported it, and who manufactured it, through the application of blockchain technology to the supply chain, it will make it harder to counterfeit drugs.
Spectrometers
Spectrometers are hand-held devices which detect the chemical composition of a medicine. Each type of spectrometer is unique, tailored for different purposes depending on the situation, from space exploration to marine biology.
But spectrometers are also vital in the fight against fake drugs.
Every product created by pharmaceutical manufacturers has its own colour profile (or spectral fingerprint). This comprises the unique colours of each element used to make up the drug, acting as a method of quality control and patent protection.
Spectroscopy is used to identify the colours of drugs and highlight where they differ from those recorded by pharmaceutical companies – much like a crime lab would review a fingerprint to see if they can find a match in their records.
Spectrometers aid the battle against fraudulent drugs by identifying them before they enter the black market, eliminating the risk of fake medicine being purchased by unsuspecting customers. How? Because government agents can use a hand-held spectrometer to test drugs found in seaports or airports.
Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID)
RFID tracks people and objects by using radio waves. It works via a system that uses software combined with an antenna, reader and tag. The latter element is added to an object to provide a unique ‘identification tag’ that transmits a data code and provides a way of tracking it.
Each RFID tag holds an electronic product code. So in terms of confirming medicine legitimacy, this code can be used to provide a record of when the drug was created and moved, along with details on the manufacturer. The information on the tag can be tracked, traced, and secured by the manufacturer – making the tag near impossible to counterfeit, unlike a barcode.
This technology means you can test that the drugs you’re taking are what they claim to be. Because of this, it’s been claimed that ‘RFID implementation is the most promising technology to quickly combat counterfeit drugs’.
Quantum IDs
Researchers at Quantum Base (a tech start-up at Lancaster University) have combined quantum technology to develop an identity tag for drugs and weed out illegitimate products.
In essence, quantum material only one-atom thick is combined with the surface of a product. When these materials are excited by bright light, they radiate light.
This action offers two data points: the properties of the emitted light, such as their colour, and the nature of the dwindling signal after the flash. The data points form a unique quantum ID that can be easily verified, i.e. pharmacies would be able to match the quantum ID with its assigned product.
But can these tags be copied by fraudsters? Potentially not. The tag’s unique code means that criminals would need to ‘atomically engineer a clone to be successful – a task that is decades from being practical’.
Did you know?
Over 250,000 children unknowingly taking counterfeit medication every year which can prove fatal. Technology can be leveraged to help safeguard people from the potential risks fake medicines pose. Covert and overt identification features, blockchain, spectrometers, RFID, and quantum IDs aren’t just examples of great tech, they’re tactics that save lives.