PR: Serialisation partnership announced to fight against counterfeit drugs

Advanco and Syntegon have announced a strategic partnership, marking a significant step towards helping to eradicate the growing problem of counterfeit drugs. The counterfeit drug market is estimated to exceed $75Bn and is once again in the spotlight as the world searches for a COVID-19 vaccine.

The one-stop shop serialisation technology resulting from the partnership means that drugs can be tracked at every stage of the supply chain – from the production line to the pharmacy and right through to the patient – helping prove authenticity.

The partnership combines the strength of advanco’s leading site manager system (known as ARC), which handles the serialisation and aggregation processes with Syntegon's high-end machines for packaging pharmaceutical products and drugs.

The development will bring tremendous value to pharmaceutical companies by significantly lowering the total overall cost and preventing a lock-in effect, allowing vendors to choose different machines from different suppliers, if they choose to do so.

The overall result of the partnership will mark important steps in moving the serialization supply chain from rigid to a much more agile model, encouraging industry openness.

Rami Cassis, CEO and Founder of Parabellum Investments, which acquired advanco in 2020, said: “Regulatory compliance for serialisation is increasingly becoming a focus area for pharmaceutical manufacturers and supply chain partners across the world, positioning firms such as advanco at the very heart of the ongoing evolution of the entire pharma industry.

“It is this exciting proposition that made advanco the perfect fit for Parabellum Investments’ portfolio of firms. We are looking forward to taking the next step with the company as it continues to develop new products and services for the benefit of us all.”

Alf Goebel, CEO of advanco, said: “With most developed and developing economies having either already laid out the regulatory road map for serialisation, or in the process of doing so, cost and time savings will be increasingly important for the pharmaceutical industry, especially due to COVID-19.

“Never has it been so important for product serialisation services to work together to minimize costs for pharmaceutical companies. The advent of the virus will most certainly accelerate the implementation of agile supply chain regulation – this will require a strong industry-standard open interface and interoperability.”

Syntegon and advanco are both members of the OPEN SCS (Open Serialisation Communication Standard) working group, which was initiated in 2014, with advanco also being one of its founding members.

Open standards will be vital to stem a potential tide of fake drugs and vaccines to treat COVID-19 as countries around the world struggle to recover after the pandemic.

About Parabellum Investments

Parabellum Investments is a privately-owned, global investment firm founded and led by Rami Cassis, chief executive. The firm has offices in London, Frankfurt, Brussels, Istanbul, Dubai, and Sydney, and acquires companies in the lower mid-market, primarily using its own funds. Focused on long-term, operational investment strategies, Parabellum Investments specialises in enterprise software and services, notably across the pharmaceuticals, business & IT, banking and natural resources sectors.

About advanco

As the leading provider for Level 3 Item Level Serialisation, advanco has been offering extensive, holistic and mission critical solutions in the fields of supply chains as well as Track & Trace for almost 40 years. For more than 11 years, advanco has been providing leading solutions for the cross-industry serialisation of products, with particular focus on the global pharmaceutical industry. Our Development and Support team draws on over 4 decades of experience in the supply chain sectors, arming our customers with an industry-leading software platform, known as ARC. This end-to-end solution works seamlessly through manufacturing, packaging, and along the entire supply chain, featuring Track & Trace. The software is customized to suit current and future needs, while optimizing existing customer systems. The ARC solution offers maximum flexibility, extremely high security and governmental compliance, without sacrificing quality standards. The result provides our customers with a significant competitive advantage.

About Syntegon

Syntegon Technology is a leading global process and packaging technology provider. Formerly the packaging division of the Bosch Group, the company, headquartered in Waiblingen (Germany), has been offering complete solutions for the pharmaceutical and food industries for over 50 years. More than 6,100 employees at 30 locations in more than 15 countries generated a total revenue of 1.3 billion euros in 2018. The portfolio of intelligent and sustainable technologies includes stand-alone machines, as well as complete systems and services.