Globally, counterfeit medication is a major issue for public health and international trade, not to mention a threat to the bottom line of any pharmaceutical company. Thousands of people worldwide die every year from ingesting fake drugs — and it costs the pharmaceutical industry between $70 billion and $200 billion per year in lost profits, by various estimates. In the latest edition of Pharmaceutical Processing, Tego CEO Tim Butler looks at how counterfeiters are affecting the pharmaceutical industry, and what the market can learn from measures put into place by aerospace to tackle the challenge.
The key challenge lies in maintaining a drug’s “connectivity” throughout its journey, even through sterilization or other necessary harsh environmental conditions, so as to create an accurate, accessible log of data about a drug’s every move.
