PharmaSecure unveils medicine verification app

PharmaSecure has launched a free mobile app which allows consumers to scan and verify the authenticity of pharmaceutical drugs they purchase, directly from their mobile phone.

The PharmaSecure Mobile app - which at the time of writing can be found on the Google Play app store here - is designed to be used alongside PharmaSecure's online and SMS-based systems that have been used on millions of individual medicine packs in India to help protect the public from counterfeit, diverted and otherwise illegal medicines. Using the new app, consumers can either enter the code on imprinted pharmaceutical packages or simply scan a bar code on the packages.

"By leveraging the text and camera capabilities of their smartphones, consumers are able to instantly verify the authenticity of their medications," said Nathan Sigworth, PharmaSecure chief executive and founder.

In addition to medicine verification, the app bundles in additional features including a subscription to a mobile health service that allows consumers to receive "health tips [and] medicine refill reminders, and speak with a qualified medical professional, all for free", according to the app store blurb.

Since launching its India operations in 2009, PharmaSecure has printed over 250 million pharmaceutical packages with unique ID codes that allow consumer authentication.