ANTI-COUNTERFEIT TECHNIQUES

1. OVERT (Visible) Features:

Overt features are intended to enable end users to verify the authenticity of a pack. Such features will normally be prominently visible, and difficult or expensive to reproduce. It should be noted that overt features can add significant cost, may restrict supply availability, and require education of end users to be effective. Where overt features are used, experience is often that counterfeiters will apply a simple copy which mimics the genuine device, sufficiently well to confuse the average user. They also require utmost security in supply, handling and disposal procedures to avoid unauthorized diversion. They should be applied in such a way that they cannot be reused or removed without being defaced or causing damage to the pack – otherwise genuine used components may be recycled with fake contents, giving a false impression of authenticity. For this reason an overt device might be incorporated within a Tamper Evident feature for added security.

2. COVERT (Hidden) Features:

The purpose of a covert feature is to enable the brand owner to identify counterfeited product. The general public will not be aware of its presence nor have the means to verify it. A covert feature should not be easy to detect or copy without specialist knowledge, and their details must be controlled on a “need to know” basis. If compromised or publicized, most covert features will lose some if not all of their security value. For this reason such techniques will not be disclosed in detail.

3. FORENSIC Markers:

There is a wide range of high-technology solutions which require laboratory testing or dedicated field test kits to scientifically prove authenticity. These are strictly a sub-set of covert technologies, but the difference lies in the scientific methodology required for authentication.

4. Serialisation/TRACK and TRACE Technologies:

A number of Track and Trace applications are under development for the pharmaceutical sector, although the principles have been established for many years in other contexts. These involve assigning a unique identity to each stock unit during manufacture, which then remains with it through the supply chain until its consumption. This identity will normally include details of the product name and strength, and the lot number and expiry date – although in principle it may simply take the form of a unique pack coding which enables access to the same information held on a secure database. (This latter solution overcomes some of the concerns about privacy where the encoded data can be read at a distance by radio equipment.)