AlpVision teams up with Nolato Medical to secure plastic packaging

A collaboration between AlpVision and Nolato Medical is attempting to thwart medicine counterfeiters by applying fingerprinting technology to moulded parts, such as vials, containers and lids, test tubes and caps.

Under the terms of the alliance, Nolato Medical will offer customers closures and other plastic components marked with AlpVision's proprietary Fingerprint technology, which relies on scanning a specific area of a product and comparing the digital image produced with images of the original product taken at the time of manufacture.

Critically, it does not require the addition of any coding or marking motif, but relies purely on the intrinsic properties of the item. AlpVision recently launched an app that allows authentication using an iPhone.

Dr. Martin Kutter, president of AlpVision, said the collaboration "will be able to reduce the penetration of counterfeit pharmaceuticals into the legal supply chain and better safeguard patient safety."