Pharmaceutical Label Strategies
Drug packaging serialization, also called track and trace, represents the best hope for combating the illicit pharmaceutical market. In March of 2010, the FDA published guidelines for Standard Numerical Identification (SNI) on prescription drug packaging. In addition, the state of California is setting the policy with its 2015 deadline for e-Pedigree packaging on pharmaceuticals for tracking purposes. The European Union is also working on traceable package labels that allow handlers throughout the supply system to verify the legitimacy of the products via a centralized database.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical manufacturers, retailers and the medical packaging industry are fine-tuning individual labeling ideas designed to outsmart the counterfeit market. Through such markers as holographic images or three-dimensional embossing on package labels, consumers can visually verify legitimate medications.
With the help of high-level visual inspection technology, forensic experts can pinpoint minute variations in labeling that even the most meticulous copies cannot completely avoid. To the untrained eye, a skillful counterfeit pharmaceutical label may appear virtually identical to the genuine article right down to the hologram on the box. As illegal medicine distribution networks become increasingly sophisticated, this visual inspection technology constitutes a critical tool for identifying fakes.
Although the counterfeit pharmaceutical network is pervasive, track and trace systems and other high-tech pharmaceutical label techniques can combat this significant health threat. Thanks to the efforts of organizations like the FDA, WHO and Interpol, people worldwide will be able to verify that their medications are genuinely effective.
From Internet
26 April, 2012
