Germany-based specialty pharmaceutical labeling solutions provider Schreiner MediPharm has unveiled new digital counterfeiting detection app, BitSecure Mobile, to help fight illegal trade in counterfeit medicines.
Image: The new digital counterfeiting detection app will help fight illegal trade in counterfeit medicines. Photo: courtesy of Adam Ciesielski/freeimages.com.
The new digital counterfeiting detection solution is designed to meet the strict requirements of the EU Directive 2011/62/EU which will come into effect on 9 February 2019.
As part the new ruling, pharma manufacturers are required to equip secondary packaging units with individual serial numbers and an anti-tampering device in order to ensure package’s integrity.
Schreiner said that the solution will prove similarly useful in the US.
Schreiner MediPharm US president Gene Dul said: “BitSecure Mobile is a great addition to Schreiner MediPharm’s extensive portfolio of innovative analog and digital security solutions for reliable counterfeiting and tampering protection.
“With enforcement deadlines of both US and EU regulations fast-approaching, the easy digital authentication of pharma packaging using a smartphone app comes at an ideal time.”
The firm noted that the digital security feature is based on a printed high-resolution, cloud-like random pattern.
The printed image on the BitSecure pattern suffers a loss in precision and optical details if anyone attempts to copy the pattern, which is only a few square millimeters in size.
The updates, however, can be analyzed via a smartphone and the respective software to reliably distinguish fraudulent copies from originals.
Additionally, the new app allows users to authenticate the products via smartphone, and can be executed quickly and flexibly in the field, the firm noted.
Schreiner, in a statement, said: “This real-time verification is highly beneficial for the pharma sector, where determinations of “fake or real” often must be made at hospitals, pharmacies, or at customs or police.”
Earlier this year, the firm has introduced new multifunctional Covert-Hologram Seal with an irreversible, holographic effect designed to offer reliable first-opening indication and tamper evidence, plus counterfeiting protection.
The Covert-Hologram Seal’s transparent, inconspicuous feature makes it appears like a simple packaging seal but the seal becomes visible once it is opened.