Nigeria Increases Use of Anti-Counterfeiting Technology

The deadly effects of counterfeit drugs are felt everywhere around the world, but perhaps no country has been more heavily impacted by fake medication than Nigeria. Fortunately, the country is making strides to protect its citizens from counterfeit drugs. Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) began requiring companies producing pharmaceuticals…

[...]

Nigerian Organization Proposes Death Penalty for Drug Counterfeiters

Nigeria has suffered a number of tragedies because of counterfeit drugs. Indeed, in 1995 alone, 2,500 children died in the country because they received a phony meningitis vaccine. One group is proposing a solution that could bring an end to such sad events: the death penalty for drug counterfeiters. The Patriots are calling on Nigeria’s…

[...]

Narcotics Sweep Leads to Arrest for Counterfeit Drugs

A drug bust in a Massachusetts city has lead to the arrest of more than a dozen people, including one who is being charged with the distribution of counterfeit drugs. The city of Taunton, Massachusetts, a community about 40 miles south of Boston, began a major drug sweep this week, targeting crack cocaine and heroin…

[...]

Anti-counterfeiting Technology Could Help Governments Track Fake Drugs

Developing nations have struggled mightily with counterfeit drugs, like when 400 people in Nigeria, Haiti and Bangladesh died from taking a medication treated with wallpaper remover, and that is why anti-counterfeiting technologies can be important in preventing counterfeit drugs from entering the secure pharmaceutical supply chain. One such technology has been in use for diabetes…

[...]

Edible Microtags: A New Anti-Counterfeiting Technology

While many anti-counterfeiting technologies focus on protecting consumers from counterfeit drugs through unique and hard-to-duplicate packaging, there is another way to ensure the authenticity of a medication: edible microtags. A number of companies have been working to develop this anti-counterfeiting technology after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released guidance on the matter last…

[...]

Tiny Technology Could Stop Counterfeit Drugs

Ensuring that medications are authentic and not counterfeit drugs is essential for pharmaceutical companies to maintain patient safety. Now there is a new technology that appears to be able to do just that. Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, tiny chips that can be tracked, have been used to track animals in the agriculture industry to…

[...]

Coustasse A, Arvidson C, Rutsohn P. Pharmaceutical counterfeiting and the RFID technology intervention. J Hosp Mark Public Relations. 2010 Jul;20(2):100-15

Both nationally and internationally, pharmaceutical counterfeiting has become a problem that is threatening economic stability and public health. The purpose of the present research study review was to analyze the scope and severity of pharmaceutical counterfeiting and to establish if the implantation of the Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) model can more efficiently be used…

[...]

Chinese Search Engine Accused of Providing Links to Counterfeit Drugs

China’s state run television station recently accused Baidu, a Chinese search engine, of promoting counterfeit drugs by directing users to websites that sell fake medication. CCTV ran a report that claimed Baidu and other search engines were making money by promoting three websites that sell counterfeit drugs, according to Reuters. These sites have reportedly already…

[...]

Student Pharmacists in Ghana Urged to Help Prevent Use of Counterfeit Drugs

Student pharmacists in Ghana were urged to accept work in rural communities to help ensure that people are not taking counterfeit drugs. In a speech to the Ghana Pharmaceutical Students Association, young pharmacists listened to a series of speeches entitled "Promoting National Growth and Development through the Campaign against Counterfeit Drugs, Ensuring Improved Rational Use…

[...]

FDA Warns Consumers Not to Use Stolen Advair Inhalers

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning that a number of Advair Diskus inhalers that were stolen in 2009 have been found in some pharmacies and that consumers should not used the stolen products. The products were reported stolen from a GlaxoSmithKline warehouse near Richmond, Virginia, in August 2009. These recently…

[...]