Product and brand protection technology: news in brief

A round-up of recent product security technology updates from vendor companies including VerifyMe, TraceLink, Inno4Life/Systech, Ardagh/FiliGrade, Thinfilm/SmartSign and ASC/Socrates.

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GuardLab has contracted VerifyMe to provide anti-counterfeit features for its mouthguard products - a premium 3D-printed product designed to provide teeth and gum protection for athletes. The two companies expect VerifyMe's authentication technology to be incorporated into GuardLab products before the second quarter of 2016. This agreement marks VerifyMe’s first partnership with a medical device manufacturer. Around $81m was spent on mouthguards in the US in 2014, according to Statistica.

TraceLink has completed product master data and product pack data upload certification tests with the European Medicines Verification Organization (EMVO) for connection to the European hub that will underpin the EU's verification system for pharmaceutical products. The tests authenticate the ability for drugmakers to use TraceLink's EU Compliance module to communicate product master data and product pack data to the hub. The company has also successfully completed a data exchange pilot in the US designed to meet the requirements of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).

Inno4Life has joined Systech International's partner programme and will now provide its serialization and aggregation equipment - pre-configured with Systech's UniSolve serialization software - to its customers in the pharma and life science markets. Inno4Life will also be a 'resident partner' in Systech's training and demonstration facility at its European headquarters in Brussels.

Luxembourg's Ardagh Group has partnered with Netherlands company FiliGrade to add digital watermarking features to metal packaging solutions. The technology will allow customers to obtain information about the product by scanning the code with a smartphone or tablet, whilst also protecting them from the threat of purchasing counterfeit products.

Norway's Thinfilm Electronics has joined forces with digital security firm SmartSign to protect products in Vietnam from counterfeiting. The companies say they intend to use Thinfilm's OpenSense near-filed communication (NFC) tags to address "massive counterfeiting that currently exists in many market segments in Vietnam in spirits, wine, tobacco, and pharmaceutical products including home health products."

ASC Pharmaceutical Logistics and risk consultancy Socrates Ltd have formed a partnership to combine their supply chain security and logistics expertise. The alliance will see Socrates offering ASC’s regulation compliance services while ASC will offer its clients Socrates' security from theft, counterfeit and adulteration services.