Counterfeit drugs have become a big menace in the current scenario of Indian healthcare market and is threating the reputation of “Make in India” campaign by the Government of India. Fake medicines and packaging activities range from incorrect dosage to unsafe production conditions to phony expiry dates. The Make in India campaign needs authentication of products to make it complete. A scenario where goods manufactured in India are counterfeited will only harm the campaign and country reputation on the global platform. There is a constant need to ensure that the ‘Make in India’ label products are of highest quality, genuine and secured till delivered to the end consumers.

More than just brand image, the pharma counterfeit product harms consumers and society at large. The danger of counterfeiting gets multiplied when it comes to healthcare products including pharmaceuticals, baby care and skin care products. According to International Policy Network report “Keeping it Real” over 7, 00,000 people avoidably die every year due to fake malaria and tuberculosis drugs. Unfortunately, there are no signs that the criminals associated with pharmaceutical fraud are slowing down. Pharmaceutical brands are under attack in form of counterfeiting, tampering and diversion taking away human life and causing unnecessary misery and human suffering. What more, it can harm drug manufacturer by leading to loss of revenue, liability in case of lawsuits, and loss of brand integrity.

E-commerce is also growing the fastest in India , but in the current scenario , consumers have no way to verify or identify the genuineness of pharma and healthcare products. The lack of awareness is making innocent people unknowingly buy fakes at the cost of original products. In one of the worst examples of harm, buying fake medicines or baby food can result in serious health issues or even loss of life.

At this alarming situation , as proactive steps , pharma companies should have joined hands with authentication solutions providers in public interest and for the brand protection measures. The authentication solutions play an important role in consumer protection, and helping brand owners in increasing revenue by knocking off counterfeiters from the market.

There are case studies in the pharmaceutical industry which has indicated that adoption of authentication solutions have impacted over 50 per cent of increase in sales. More and more brands are adopting solutions such as high security hologram with 2D and alphanumeric codes on individual blister pack, bottle or injectable vial. All effective solutions, broadly speaking, help in identifying and authenticating the original from counterfeit. They deepen the divide between genuine products and their counterfeits by making a genuine product distinguishable in some manner that is difficult to replicate using commercially available manufacturing processes. However, it is very important that a market surveillance program is in place, so that as soon as an infringement is identified, it is immediately tackled using administrative and/or legal recourse to punish the guilty.
Indian industries have lots of potential but is badly affected due to counterfeiting and the menace of counterfeit is not only bothering Government & brand owners but is also increasing life threat to the end consumer.

This matter is so serious that if no immediate measures are taken , then counterfeit market size in next five years will grow tremendously and will cause a very substantial loss to the Indian Government. It is high time and there is a need to eradicate this problem from its roots. And this is only possible by empowering consumer, enforcement authorities with the latest new generation technological authentication solutions.