SecuringPharma: Survey Results Suggest Drug Counterfeiting is on the Rise

A survey of 1,000 specialists in pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting measures surveyed have suggested that faking of medicines will become increasingly severe in the coming years, and that drugmakers will invest more in defensive measures.

SecuringPharma, in a December 24th post, reports on a survey that was created as a part of the pre-conference research for IQPC's Pharmaceutical Anti-Counterfeiting conference to be held in Amsterdam on February 15th-17th.

According to the SecuringPharma post:

• Almost two third of those polled in the survey (61.5 per cent) expected the threat of counterfeiting to increase in 2011, while more than half (53.8 per cent) said they were planning to increase their budget for investment in anti-counterfeiting area.

• With regard to the anti-counterfeiting technology they were using, just 53 per cent indicated they were satisfied with it and 23 per cent said they were not content with their current protection.

• A vast majority (84 per cent) said that they were looking to invest in new anti-counterfeiting measures, according to Pharma IQ, a division of conference organiser IQPC which carried out the poll.

• Emerging markets in Asia - and especially China - were perceived as the major source of the anti-counterfeit drugs by half of the respondents.

• 21 per cent cited the Internet as the major threat for the pharmaceutical market in the context of counterfeiting, with around the same proportion identifying organised crime as their top concern.

• On a positive note, while the results indicated that the perceived threat of counterfeit medicines was significant, most of those polled (84.6 per cent) said they believed it is possible to win the war with pharmaceutical counterfeiters.

The results of the survey are in line with all of the most recent media reports and statistics that are emerging at the close of 2010. The criminal enterprise of drug counterfeiting is on the rise and the threat to supply chains and populations around the world is very real.

Of comfort is the increased realization and reaction by governments, industry and consumers of this threat. In the past most members of the supply chain were looking for government mandates before moving to protect their inventories. Based on this survey it would appear that they are now in a more proactive mindset.

Ultimately it is incumbent on the supply chain members and the consumer to be vigilant in protecting themselves from this threat.

To read the entire SecuringPharma post, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/815.php

To learn more about the IQPC Pharmaceutical Anti-Counterfeiting Conference, visit: http://www.pharmaceuticalanticounterfeiting.com/Event.aspx?id=405182

To learn more about anti-counterfeiting technologies for pharmaceuticals, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/

Securing Pharma: Cambodian Study Finds Only 3% of Medicines are Counterfeit

Low figure compares to historical estimates of 4% to 90% in studies reported since 2000, according to the researchers.

Phil Taylor in an October 22nd post in Securing Pharma writes a blog about a recent study by Japanese researchers that shows a low percentage of counterfeits as it relates to past studies.

This research is significant because at face value the study paints a very different, more positive picture of the Cambodian pharmaceutical supply chain from previous studies which may lead to a false sense of the totality of the problem.

Highlights from the Securing Pharma post include:

• The results of a medicine sampling study in Cambodia reveals that just 3% of products were counterfeit, although between 5 and 9 % failed HPLC or dissolution-based quality testing.

• That relatively low figure compares to historical estimates of 4% to 90% in studies reported since 2000, according to the researchers, who were from Kanazawa and Nagasaki Universities in Japan and Cambodia's National Health Product Quality Control Center.

• A total of 710 samples of a wide range of commonly-used medicines were collected by the researchers in three tranches (in 2006, 2007 and 2008) at pharmacies and other forms of retail outlet in both rural and urban areas.

• A little over half (55%) of the samples collected had their packaging intact, but in 45% of cases it was open. Counterfeits were 20 times more likely to be encountered among open containers than closed one, were more likely to fail quality testing and were encountered more often in rural outlets, according to the researchers.

• Four of the counterfeits were labeled as originating from China, six were from India, two were from Malaysia and there was one each from Hong Kong, Cambodia and the UK.

Clearly the outcome of this research needs to be followed up given the apparent disparity between the results of this testing and what has been found in the past.

After one looks at the data however it would appear that although 3% were found to be specifically counterfeit there was a significant amount of issues with up to 9% of the sampling as to leave doubts to its efficacy. Simply put Cambodia has a huge health care issue as it relates to the safety of its pharmaceutical supply chain.

Adulterated, sub-standard, fraudulent and counterfeit drugs impact the health and safety of entire populations in developed and underdeveloped nations by poisoning the consumer, not properly treating diseases, creating drug resistant disease or at best scamming the patient out of his or her intended treatment.

Secure Pharma Chain encourages all within the pharmaceutical supply chain (regulatory agencies, manufacturers, distributors and dispensers) to use best procurement practices when purchasing their raw materials and inventories and to deploy technologies and solutions that will interdict these potentially lethal fakes from reaching the consumer.

To view Phil Taylor’s Securing Pharma article, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/624.php

To view the research published in Pharmaceutical Research, visit: http://www.springerlink.com/content/kj17835007x13471/

To learn more about pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/

Securing Pharma: Bangladesh Carrying Heavy Counterfeit Medicine Burden

Business Monitor International estimates that spurious medicines account for around $150m of Bangladesh's total prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical market of around $1.16bn.

Securing Pharma in a September 23rd post, details a recently published report, entitled Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Q4 2010 compiled by Business Monitor International.

According to the Securing Pharma story:

• Testing of 5,000 medicine samples this year by the government of Bangladesh revealed that 300 or 6 per cent were either counterfeit or of substandard quality, according to Business Monitor International.

• The country's Public Health and Drug Testing Laboratory found that many of the fake or low-quality products were antibiotics and other potentially life-saving medicines and therefore pose a risk to public health.

• The market research firm estimates that spurious medicines account for around $150m of Bangladesh's total prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical market of around $1.16bn.

• The main channels for distribution of the substandard and counterfeit drugs seems to be the country's huge network of unlicensed pharmacies - which could number as many as 80,000 according to some estimates.

• "It is thought that these counterfeit products are produced in numerous drug factories situated along the Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese and Thailand borders," comments BMI in the report.

This criminal act now effectively impacts and entire country’s health and well being especially when many of the bogus drugs go beyond the traditional life style drugs and instead are basic antibiotics and life saving medications.

In Bangladesh counterfeit medications are now a deadly part of the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chain.

The issue of adulterated, fraudulent and counterfeit drugs has transcended from individual criminal acts to a well organized industry that sells disease and death.

All members of the global pharmaceutical supply chain must protect their inventories and consumers from these bogus fakes by deploying anti-counterfeiting technologies and solutions.

To read the entire Securing Pharma story, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/588.php.

To learn more about pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Securing Pharma: California Task Force Will Tackle Online Fake Drugs Trade

A task force has been created by the US Attorney’s Office in San Francisco to combat counterfeit pharmaceuticals and money laundering on the Internet, according to a report from the Pharmaceutical Cargo Security Coalition.

Securing Pharma in their September 22nd post reports on a new Federal task force specifically set up to handle fake drugs.

According to the Securing Pharma:

• Working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Internal Revenue Service, the first focus of the task force will be counterfeiting activities in the Northern Judicial District of California, but the intention is eventually to expand its focus nationwide and even overseas.

• The team’s location is considered to be strategic because of the high density of Internet financial service vendors on the west coast of the USA, including iOffer, eBay and PayPal.

• "Any transaction(s) through these companies technically give this group legal venue on future investigations outside of the Northern Judicial District of California, as well as abroad," commented PCSC.

This new task force is obviously a huge step forward as it relates to taking the fight to these criminals who have for too long been able to ply their deadly wares directly to the consumer.

Secure Pharma Chain endorses and encourages all regulatory oversight in combating fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit drugs. Secure Pharma Chain encourages all members of the pharmaceutical supply chain to take proactive measures in securing their inventories from this criminal element and their deadly, bogus medications.

To read the entire Securing Pharma blog post, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/585.php.

To learn more about anti-counterfeiting technologies designed for pharmaceuticals, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

SecuringPharma: German Pharmacies Infiltrated by Fake Medicines

Phil Taylor wrote and posted a story August 12th in SecuringPharma about a scandal that involves dozens of pharmacies in the northern portion of Germany that are being investigated about the distribution of illegal medicines, including counterfeits.

Mr. Taylor reports that “the case suggests that far from being mainly a risk associated with purchase of medicines over the Internet, in some parts of Germany counterfeit and otherwise illegal drugs may be on pharmacy shelves and getting into the hands of patients.”

Also included in the posted story:

· Prosecutors have brought charges against one pharmacist from the Braunschweig region who is accused of handling €1.68m-worth and are investigating several others, according to a report by German business magazine Markt.

· The affairs of other pharmacies in Hamburg, Celle, Verden and Kiel are also being probed, according to the report, which notes that the counterfeit goods being traded included not only lifestyle medicines such as impotency drugs and bodybuilding products, but also painkillers, antibiotics and cancer treatments.

· Among the practices alleged to have been carried out by the pharmacists is mixing of illegally-acquired medicines with legitimate, genuine product.

· Last year, Germany suffered other high-profile cases in which counterfeit versions of GlaxoSmithKline's Combivir (lamivudine and zidovudine) and Boehringer Ingelheim's Viramune (nevirapine) - both used to treat HIV infection. The fakes were discovered in the legal supply chain, Combivir in Bremen and Viramune on the island of Sylt in northern Germany.

The suspected introduction and mixing of counterfeit medications into the trusted supply that consumers rely upon to be safe, make this a very troubling story.

When one of the most trusted health care professionals, pharmacists, poison their own supply chain with fraudulent, counterfeit medications, the only protection is in the members of the supply chain routinely verifying the safety and clinical efficacy of the product through authentication technologies.

Secure Pharma Chain encourages everyone within the pharmaceutical supply chain to deploy a variety of technologies, specifically authentication solutions to protect their inventories from fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit medications. Authentication solutions go beyond pedigree or track and trace solutions and verifies to the end user what is inside the box within their inventories.

Knowing where the box has been is important but knowing what is inside the box is critical.

To read the SecuringPharma post, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/548.php.

To learn more about authentication solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Lack of Authentication 'Undermines US Anti-Counterfeit Strategy'

Phil Taylor in SecuringPharma reports on the International Authentication Association's critical stance of a recently published plan by the Obama Administration's US Joint Strategic Plan on IP Enforcement.

In this excellent July 30th SecuringPharma post, Mr. Taylor reports on the International Authentication Association (IAA) take on the US governments plan:

• US policymakers have "missed a golden opportunity" to make authentication technologies mandatory for intellectual property protection and protection against counterfeits, according to the International Authentication Association (IAA).

• Referring to the USA's recently-published Joint Strategic Plan on IP Enforcement document, the IAA says that it is "disappointed to see the only reference to authentication methods is the proposal to establish a mandatory requirement for a track and trace system for pharmaceuticals and medical products."

• The strategic plan was drawn up by the USA's IP Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) and sets out a series of measures to tackle the trade in counterfeit and pirated products, including pharmaceuticals, both domestically and internationally.

• "The plan does not go far enough and should have been stronger in endorsing the use of authentication technologies and methods - not just track and trace - for IP protection," said the organisation in a statement.

• Track and trace can help to secure the supply chain from the infiltration of counterfeiting but it cannot in itself identify nor confirm whether products distributed beyond legitimate supply chains are genuine or not, it pointed out.

• "The national plan to fight counterfeiting should include references and guidance on the means of authentication, because detecting fakes is a key part of any anti-counterfeiting strategy," said Jim Rittenburg, the IAA's chairman.

• He pointed out that the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has been developing performance criteria for authentication tools used in anti-counterfeiting, and has said that "...track and trace technology when used alone is not considered to be an authentication solution."

• "We would like to see the IP Enforcement Coordinator look at the broader role of authentication technologies and programs for the next strategic plan," said Rittenburg.

Secure Pharma Chain agrees and endorses IAA’s criticism of the recently published plan and its lack of authentication as a proposed standard and strategy. The Joint Strategic Plan missed an opportunity to provide global leadership, regualtory guidance and protect industry and consumers from dangerous and potentially deadly criminal activity.

Authentication of the products is the critical component of enforcing intellectual property and protecting supply chains and consumers from fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit products.

While track and trace solutions are important in understanding the transactional process, it does not protect the consumer from fraudulent product.

All of the most recent counterfeit and fraudulent medication incidents that have resulted in death or significant health care issues with consumers have the appropriate track and trace pedigrees and would likely have been interdicted had their been an authentication process in place.

To read the entire SecuringPharma story, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/537.php.

To learn more about authentication solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

SecuringPharma: Anti-Counterfeit Technology Market Set for 'Steady' Growth

“The fundamental market drivers for anti-counterfeit technologies remain strong.”

In a July 12th story posted on SecuringPharma.com, they report on a Global Industry Analysts (GIA) study regarding the market for anti-counterfeiting technologies.

In the report the GIA states that the global market for anti-counterfeiting technologies could reach $82.2bn by 2015. The GIA says that the food and pharmaceutical industries are currently the most vulnerable to the actions of counterfeiters and that the pharmaceutical and food companies suffer "substantial" losses every year from counterfeiting. These losses are encouraging various strategies to prevent brand damage, including investments in anti-counterfeit technologies.

Included in the SecuringPharma story:

• With the security threat graph spiking a tad too rapidly for manufacturer’s comfort, demand for anti-counterfeit products and services is experiencing a steady rise," says the report, which notes that holograms, tamper-evident closures, taggants and markings and RFID labels will all play their part in the fight against counterfeiting.

• GIA also note that this increase in investment in technologies is coming despite the downturn in the global economy, helped by regulatory drivers including US and EU moves towards serialization and track-and-trace for pharmaceuticals.

• North America and Europe collectively account for a major share of the global anti-counterfeit packaging market, according to GIA, and brand owners there are increasingly investing in multilayered brand protection using overt, covert and forensic technologies.

• "Government regulations necessitating the need for anti-counterfeit technologies are the silver lining from the downturn in the global economy [and] the present recessionary climate also makes sense to invest in anti-counterfeit packaging to gain back the lost sales from the counterfeiters."

Secure Pharma Chain Blog is encouraged by the GIA report and endorses that all members for the pharmaceutical supply chain protect their brand, limit their liability, manage costs, secure inventories and ultimately protect consumers by deploying anti-counterfeiting technologies.

It is vital that these technologies continue to be deployed to protect the global supply chain from poor qualtiy, fraudulent and counterfeit drugs.

To read the SecuringPharma.com post, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/520.php.

To learn more about anti-counterfeit technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

SecuringPharma: Another Pharma Cargo Theft in Memphis

Shionogi suffers cargo theft on the heels of the large theft of Lupin products in Tennessee.

According to SecuringPharma.com, Shinogi a Japanese pharmaceutical company with a US division was hit by cargo thieves towards the end of May.

As reported by SecuringPharma.com:

· The theft was of two cases of its OraPred a prednisolone product stolen from a trailer parked at a truck stop in Memphis, Tennessee.

· The Pharmaceutical Cargo Security Consortium said the small amount of material stolen could mean the incident was a 'probe' – in which thieves take a small amount of material to identify what pharmaceuticals are being distributed in the area.

· PCSC also notes the incident could be linked to the theft of two pharmaceutical shipments in the Memphis area earlier in May.

This theft underscores the vulnerability of the pharmaceutical supply chain and undermines the confidence of consumers.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog, endorses the concept of all members of the supply using authentication technologies to verify their inventories and chain of custody.

To learn more about pharmaceutical supply chain solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

To read the entire SecuringPharma.com article, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/499.php.

German Customs and the Economics of Pharmaceutical Counterfeiting

In an excellent piece by Phil Taylor in SecuringPharma.com he writes about an international operation headed by customs officers in Germany that is attempting to disrupt the trade in counterfeit medicines focusing primarily sales via the Internet.

According to the story this effort,” has notched up some notable successes in its first 18 months”.

The operation named Project Blue is specifically targeted at the illegal trade in pharmaceuticals and is being conducted by a 12-member team from German Customs, under the leadership of Sieghart Vosseler.

The highlights on Project Blue are:

· "The cooperation of the financial sector made this a unique operation, and was a major contributory factor towards the success of Project Blue," said Vosseler, who heads the Organized Crime Investigations unit at German Customs.
· Few people are aware of the hugely complicated network that is operating when they make a purchase using a credit card, and particularly the fact that the likes of Visa and MasterCard never actually touch the money that changes hands.
· "The credit card companies provide the network for payment, but the actual money is handled by independent companies known as acquirers," said Vosseler. He cited a case last May in which a German Internet pharmacy was raided and a large quantity of fake medicines were seized, including products mimicking Pfizer's erectile dysfunction product Viagra (sildenafil citrate). The ringleader of the operation was in fact a career criminal - a burglar - who had decided to swap over to counterfeit medicines as the risks were low and the rewards high. The Project Blue taskforce were able to follow the financial transactions of the ring - which involved shifting large quantities of money (around €3m) through seven separate countries, and freeze their bank accounts.
· A total of seven arrests were made in the operation, which resulted in the seizure of more than 172,000 medicine units and nearly €390,000 in cash, as well as the confiscation of around €700,000-worth of assets such as cars and property.

The most notable highlight of the story, aside from the specifics on Project Blue are the explanation from the German customs official, Mr. Vosseler, regarding the economics of pharmaceutical counterfeiting which is what makes it so financially attractive and driving its proliferation:

· "There is a lot of money in counterfeit medicines," commented Vosseler, at a recent IQPC conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
· He cited a study carried out at the University of Bonn which looked at the profit which can be made when a criminal invests a €1,000 stake in counterfeit goods. For counterfeit money the return would be around €3,000 (on an investment of €1,000), rising to a little under €7,000 for a fake credit card (on an investment of €1,000). Counterfeiting software gives an even better return at around €100,000 profit (on an investment of €1,000), but all are eclipsed by fake pharmaceuticals with a whopping €500,000 return (on an investment of €1,000).

The story provides excellent insight into the international fight that pharmaceutical counterfeiting has become and the huge financial gains that is driving it.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog continues to highlight medication counterfeiting as one of the most dangerous forms of this criminal activity and encourages all within the pharmaceutical supply chains to deploy a variety of solutions and technologies in their efforts to protect the healthcare of the consumer.

To learn more about anti-counterfeiting technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

To read the entire SecuringPharma.com story, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/455.php.

Smash and Grab Raid at Pharmaceutical Warehouse

Phil Taylor in a piece in SecuringPharma.com reports on a smash and grab raid of a pharmaceutical warehouse in British Columbia.

The Pharmaceutical Cargo Security Consortium has reported another pharmaceutical warehouse burglary at a wholesaler in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.

The incident occurred on April 15 and resulted in the loss of around $40,000-worth of inventory, says the PCSC, which warned recently of an upsurge in suspicious activity around pharmaceutical facilities in the wake of the $76m raid on Eli Lilly's distribution facility in Enfield, Connecticut.

According to the report from PCSC, on April 15th, five individuals broke into the wholesaler’s warehouse lobby in a smash-and-grab raid in which they attacked the warehouse, cage and vault.

To read the SecuringPharma.com story online, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/451.php.

The issue of pharmaceutical cargo theft energizes the need for material screening of products within the supply chain, from manufacturer to dispenser, to properly protect consumers everywhere.

As the value and prevalence increases, so too does the potential risk to consumers.

To learn more about material screening/anti-counterfeiting solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Chinese SFDA Official Arrested in Rabies Vaccine Scandal

In an online story, written by Phil Taylor in Securing Pharma, the Chinese newspaper 21st Century Business Herald is reporting that an official with the SDFA, the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration has been arrested in connection with an investigation into the adulteration of rabies vaccine.

Wei Liang an official with SFDA's Drug Registration Department has been charged with taking nearly $145,000 in bribes.

The arrest is related to the adulteration and substitution of raw materials used in the manufacturing of thousands of doses of rabies vaccines at a vaccine manufacturing plant operated by Jiangsu Ealong Biotech Co.

According to SFDA officials the adulterated vaccines will not provide the appropriate protection against the disease but are unlikely to cause adverse effects.

SDFA’s have investigated another rabies vaccine-producing company - Hebei Bioforwell Co - but have to find any evidence of criminal activity.

The entire investigation was precipitated by the December 2009 discovery by the SFDA that more than 215,000 doses of rabies vaccine supplied by the Jiangsu Ealong Biotech and Hebei Bioforwell had quality problems.

The SDFA is concerned that some of the adulterated and sub-potent vaccine may still be in the Chinese supply chain.

This particular healthcare scandal apparently contains the gamut of premeditated fraud, raw material adulteration, medication quality control issues, official bribery and official corruption all at the expense of the health of the Chinese population.

This incident, much like the Heparin scandal that cost thousands of lives several years ago, should encourage all members of the pharmaceutical supply chain to authenticate and verify medications within their control to avoid liability, protect their business brand and make certain that the healthcare consumer is protected from potentially deadly consequences of fraudulent, adulterated or counterfeit drugs.

To learn more about authentication technologies, visit: www.xstreamsystems.net.

To read the Securing Pharma online story, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/.

GAO: FDA Criminal Investigations Unit Lacks Oversight

As posted online in Securing Pharma, according to a report from the General Accounting Office (GAO) the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) unit responsible for investigating counterfeit drugs, contaminated food and other criminal activities lacks sufficient oversight and operational review.

The GAO report on the FDA was initiated based on a request from Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa).

The GAO found that the FDA’s Office for Criminal Investigations (OCI) needs to be more closely monitored by the FDA and have appropriate performance measures in place for proper assessment.

The OCI operates semi-autonomously within the FDA and is not mandated to provide any information on its investigations. According to the study, the 2008 the budget for the OCI was $41M. The OCI as a unit within the FDA employed 230 people and instigated approximately 400 prosecutions.

Securing Pharma reports:

· The GAO notes that out of the 24 total office assessments that should have been completed on the OCI's six field offices by August 2009, "only seven, or about 30 per cent, were completed, and one office had not been assessed in over 10 years."
· Another FDA unit which investigates cases of potential misconduct, criminal activity and other transgressions by FDA employees - the Office of Internal Affairs (OIA) - also needs to measures put in place to improve oversight and accountability says the GAO.

Secure Pharma Chain endorses an enhanced oversight of the regulatory agencies and the continued growth of their enforcement tools to adequately protect vital supply chains and consumers.

To read the entire Securing Pharma story, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/399.php.

Turkish Serialization Plan Delayed Yet Again

In a SecuringPharma.com online article written by Phil Taylor and Keribar Duman they document yet another delay in Turkey’s efforts to adopt a nationwide serialization coding system for pharmaceutical products.

According to the article, the further delay is a result of pharmacies still not having implemented the necessary technology for the process to begin.

Turkish authorities have pushed for the serialization due to widespread fraud in the reimbursement of medications, which is thought to cost the government over $150 million a year and as a deterrent to counterfeit and illegal drugs.

This is the third official delay of the ITS (Ilac Takip Sistemi) system. It was first set to launch on January 1, 2009, then July 1, 2009 and now the latest implementation date was at the start of 2010.

The ITS system was to employ a 2D datamatrix coding to medications that are either produced or imported into Turkey. According to the article the lack of implementation is the “ability and willingness in some cases-of pharmacies to implement and use the system for reading the codes”.

The Turkish Pharmacists Association has been instrumental in pushing authorities for extensions for the regulatory mandate and are on record as saying that issues with the ITS system make the process unworkable.

The inability of Turkey to implement this process in a timely and efficient manner exemplify the issue of a regulatory authority mandating a single approach to fraud, adulteration and counterfeit within a pharmaceutical supply chain. A serialized approach is totally dependent upon an entire system and process adopting an end to end “daisy chain” which is expensive and cumbersome to implement and maintain and relies on total compliance to become effective. Without 100% cooperation the process loses nearly its entire effectiveness and value.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog and XStream Systems; endorse a layered approach of material authentication, pedigree, overt and covert marker technology and ultimately serialization as the most effective way to efficiently, economically and effectively protect an entire supply chain. A multiple technology solution does not require absolute compliance to make it effective and valuable. In a layered technology approach, each solution provides specific protection which overlaps without creating added costs or onerous mandates.

To read Taylor and Duman’s article, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/366.php.

To learn more about efficient pharmaceutical supply chain technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Securing Pharma: Survey Reveals European Views on Counterfeits

A study posted online on SecuringPharma.com on November 25th, was conducted by ICM and sponsored by Aegate.

The results demonstrate the awareness of counterfeit products in general and drugs in particular on the European continent. The research was based on interviews with 5,000 consumers in five European countries between October 15 -21, 2009.

The findings show a growing awareness of counterfeit drugs which seemingly correlates with the growth of issue within developed countries globally. The following are several interesting findings from the study:

· One in 20 Europeans suspect they have received a counterfeit prescription drug and 1 per cent believe they definitely have, according to consumer research group ICM. Which translates to as many as 12.8 million European consumers could have been exposed to counterfeit drugs.
· Awareness of the phony drugs market was moderate, with 61 per cent of those polled saying they know prescription drugs can be faked. Awareness was higher in the UK, at 75 per cent.
· Medicines topped the list of counterfeit items that respondents said would most concern them - at 79 per cent - with all other items mentioned in the poll (clothes, toys, cosmetics, alcohol, CDs and DVDs, cigarettes and golf clubs) in the low single digits.
· Consumers see the fake drugs trade to be largely the responsibility of medicines suppliers, with 45 per cent saying the manufacturer is responsible for keeping counterfeits out of the supply chain, 31 per cent saying it is the responsibility of the wholesaler and 30 per cent pointing to the pharmacist.
· Consumers also want tougher punishments. Over two thirds of them believe the penalty for counterfeiting medicines should be between five and 15 years in prison, despite the current penalties being far lower - while 19 per cent felt a life sentence was warranted by the crime.
· Meanwhile, 85 per cent of consumers said they would feel more confident if medicine packs contained a safety feature that enabled the pharmacist to verify the medicine is genuine before dispensing.
· In addition, 90 per cent said they would not buy drugs on-line if pharmacies in Europe had a tool to authenticate prescription drugs.

To read the entire article online in SecuringPharma, visit their website at: www.securingpharma.com.

To learn more about XStream Systems robust solution to counterfeit products, visit our website at: www.xstreamsystems.net.

Dramatic Rise in Drug Seizures by EU Customs

SecuringPharma.com posted a story by Phil Taylor on July 24th, outlining and giving background on an astounding increase in drug seizures by EU Customs Officials.

Some interesting tidbits include:

• Seizures of pharmaceutical products at the European Union’s borders rose 57 per cent last year, while the total number of items detained more than doubled to around 8m items.


• That increase came against a backdrop of a 13 per cent hike across all product categories to nearly 50,000 seizures overall, with the number of detained articles swelling to 180m from 80m in 2007.The report notes that seizures of medicines were among the most controversial developments in 2008.


• There were cases in which generic medicines destined for a developing nation being seized in transit at EU borders, even though they did not infringe intellectual property rights in their destination markets (such as Latin America and Africa).


• Around 70 per cent of all seizures were carried out at the request of an intellectual property rights holder, with the remainder ex officio actions by customs officials where there was a suspicion of infringement.

To read the story visit SecuringPharma.com at the following link: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/184.php

SecuringPharma – a New Counterfeit Drugs News Site Launched

Recently, SecuringPharma.com, a new free-to-access information service that covers the issues surrounding supply chain and brand security in the pharmaceutical industry went live. SecuringPharma.com provides practical advice and intelligence to help manufacturers define and pursue their own strategies for tackling the problem of counterfeit drugs and supply chain security.

XStream Systems, in an ongoing effort to provide our readers with the latest news regarding counterfeit drug issues, have included a link to this resource for your convenience under “Other Sites of Interest”.

Also included in this listing is another website, KnockoffReport.com. This site is dedicated to an overview of all counterfeiting and IP violation issues as well as counterfeit drugs.

We believe our readers will find these sites helpful and look forward to adding additional links in the future to help keep you informed on all the pharmaceutical security news.