Imagine a scenario in which one can confirm the authenticity of a medicine bought from the local pharmacy through an SMS, within a few seconds. The notion doesn't seem far-fetched anymore.
HP Labs, the central research arm of HP, has introduced a cloud-based solution, the Global Authentication Service, which allows pharma companies to monitor the movement of products through their global supply chains. This is aimed at empowering end users to authenticate medicines, without the need for any new technology platform or devices.
Pharma firms would secure the codes from HP, and these would then be shared with the printers that the firms use. The scratch-off card works like a telephone recharge coupon. A user can scratch the cover and text it to a designated number. If the 12-digit number is part of the HP series, the user would instantly receive an SMS stating whether the medicine is genuine or fake. The codes and the related data are stored on a central web-server.
The Global Authentication Service works in conjunction with HP's global printing partners. The service helps detect a fake medicine by printing a unique 12-digit code under a scratch-off sticker on each package or on medicine cartons. These codes, specially generated by HP, are used after securing the approval of pharma companies. The two-dimensional bar codes are created and managed by HP.
The solution was most recently adapted and deployed in collaboration with the African nonprofit social enterprise mPedigree. The authentication services have been used to trace and authenticate medicines in Nigeria and Ghana. In India, HP is already in talks with pharma manufacturers like Cipla, Tablet India and CAMA. HP plans to leverage India's strong mobile penetration of more than 800 million and the ease of cloud computing.
"In exporting drugs to Africa, most manufacturers in India already use this system. We are in talks with several Indian pharma firms for using the service in the domestic market. We are hopeful that in the next 12-18 months, some of the firms would be using this technology," says A Appadurai, country manager, Indigo and Inkjet Solutions, HP India.
Though the messaging platform is currently maintained by HP, the company plans to work with other telecom operators as well. "The best part of the system is the entire data goes back to the pharma companies, and the codes get wiped out from printing systems. Hence, there are no chances of duplication or piracy," says Appadurai.
Of every five drugs sold in India, at least two are fakes. According to industry estimates, almost 75 per cent of fake drugs globally originate in India. feit drugs account for 20 per cent of the India pharma market. The Director General of Foreign Trade had recently announced all pharma manufacturers should implement anti-feit measures to curb this growing menace. Counterfeit drugs, from unidentifiable sources and with no proof of their contents, at times contain a small amount of active ingredients and at times, an overdose. This results in over 700,000 deaths worldwide every year.
Appadurai says the technology would not be very expensive. "The two dimensional barcodes would cost around Rs 1 each. This may mean a firm's expenditure may rise marginally. However, compared to the litigation costs some pharma companies face, this cost is nothing," he says.
