Packaging is integral to the fight against counterfeit medicines and serialisation of packaging is an essential tool with which companies and customers can use to verify drug products. Here, Mario Scigliano, serialisation & automation manager, and Christian Ahlmark, associate director, sales & key account management, CordenPharma, discuss how a CDMO can help give companies a fighting chance to be globally serialisation compliant.
Fighting chance
Packaging is the key to combatting the worldwide drug counterfeiting problem. Nearly 10 years ago, the primary target for drug counterfeiters were lifestyle drugs, such as Viagra. Now, commonly-used and lifesaving medications, including insulin, cancer drugs and cardiovascular medicines, have fallen victim to phony manufacturers. This poses a pressing danger to consumer health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that the rise in counterfeit drugs is responsible for up to one million deaths annually, and that 1 in 10 medicines sold worldwide is counterfeit, a figure that can reach up to 7 of 10 in some countries.1