Fake busters: Honeywell’s tech to identify counterfeit drugs

Earlier this 12 months, the World Well being Organisation sounded an alarm over prison exploitation of an unmet world demand for Covid-19 vaccines.

The coronavirus pandemic, the most important public well being disaster in latest occasions, continues to hang-out Indians, particularly as we bear in mind the plight of critically sick sufferers and unlucky deaths within the months of April and Might. An acute scarcity of medicine to deal with signs of Covid-19 led to elevated circulation of counterfeit medicines in latest occasions. There have been even stories of faux antiviral medicines and spurious injectable immuno suppressant available in the market, jeopardising the lives of sufferers, and even resulting in fatalities. Interpol’s Operation Pangea reported an increase in pretend medical merchandise associated to the pandemic, with 4.4 million models valued at $14 million seized in 2020 alone.

With rising demand for vaccines, there may be concern that pretend vaccines might discover their manner into circulation. Earlier this 12 months, the World Well being Organisation sounded an alarm over prison exploitation of an unmet world demand for Covid-19 vaccines. Already, counterfeit vaccines have been detected in nations akin to Mexico and Poland.

With a view to overcome this, Honeywell has launched digital authentication know-how for pharmaceutical merchandise in a bid to struggle rising counterfeit crime in India. “Honeywell is deploying its authentication know-how for the pharmaceutical trade in response to the rising menace of counterfeit merchandise,” stated Hitesh Mehta, basic supervisor, Superior Supplies, Honeywell India. “Our subtle authentication applied sciences function printing and substrates which will be simply recognized however are troublesome to change and duplicate. Our know-how affords model safety for producers and assurance of genuine merchandise for finish customers.”

The answer contains a digital code that’s embedded within the packaging of pharmaceutical merchandise. The top person can validate the authenticity of the product by scanning the digital code with the assistance of a smartphone. The software program that validates the product’s authenticity via a database is accessible via a Honeywell app out there for obtain for iOS and Android customers and gathers market intelligence.