Viewpoint:Tackling the means and motive in counterfeiting

Much attention has been devoted to the motive driving criminals to focus their activities toward fraud in pharmaceuticals: the high prices and brand recognition commanded by well-known drugs provide ample incentive for criminals to shift their business away from trafficking in street drugs which can be less profitable and more risky than trafficking in fake ‘legitimate’ drugs.  

As troubling as it may be to admit, the profit motive to traffic in fake drugs is compelling and unlikely to be stopped anytime soon.

Acknowledging the reality of drug counterfeiting does not mean stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry should do nothing about it. While the pharmaceutical industry has few tools to address the motive behind fraud, the industry can address the means by which fraudsters engage in their craft - counterfeit packaging. In many fraud schemes, fakes are passed on to consumers in packaging designed to resemble the real thing using inexpensive but high quality printing equipment. 

One way to fight this practice is to create standards for pharmaceutical packaging that include overt authentication technologies that give consumers the tools to validate the authenticity of pharmaceutical packaging on their own.

Currency, financial cards and secure identity cards are all designed with overt authentication tools - from security holograms to color shifting inks - that give consumers confidence that the documents they have before them are genuine.  If we can secure our money and our identities, why can’t we secure our health?

Adam Scheer

Authentication solutions expert at JDSU


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