Senior members of Domino Printing Sciences’ global strategic sectors team recently attended the Coalition Against Illicit Trade (CAIT) event, the first worldwide coalition of business and organisations dedicated to fighting the trade of counterfeited and contraband goods. The inaugural think-tank seminar shared best practice and solutions from agri-food to pharmaceuticals, while Craig Stobie, head – global Life Sciences team at Domino presented on the track and trace panel, focused on using innovative technological solutions in tracking, tracing and authentication.
Speaking in Brussels, Stobie identified that interoperability is a key challenge in fighting the threat of falsification in the pharmaceutical sector. 'Interoperability in systems is something that can only be achieved by open standards that allow for data to be shared across markets,' explained Stobie. 'This, in addition to competition among service providers to develop cost-effective systems for brand owners and intermediaries, is the answer to developing solutions to combat counterfeiting. The effect 2D barcodes and mass serialisation is already having on the transformation of the distribution processes is an example of this.'
The establishment of the European Medicines Verification Organisation (EMVO), Stobie added, also links national verification systems throughout Europe and represents a key interoperability tool to combat falsified medicines in the EU supply chain.
Also present at the seminar was Domino strategic sector lead James Cutforth, who commented that consumers are likely to remain disengaged with the threat of falsified products. He further suggested: 'It is up to the industry and authorities to ensure the problem of falsified products is tackled. That is why it is so important to ensure the infrastructures put in place work well, for the protection of consumers and the industry as a whole.'
Other areas of discussion included sanctioning counterfeiting as a criminal matter as opposed to administrative fraud, the economic impact of illicit trade and importance of security features that will defeat sophisticated counterfeiters.
'There is no "silver bullet" solution to tackle the counterfeiting of food, pharmaceutical and medical products. The answer lies within collaboration between different industries and organisations - by sharing knowledge we have the opportunity to tackle the growing problem of falsification that has potentially serious consequences on patient and consumer health,' Stobie concluded.
