Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Sep 18, 2008
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Sep 18, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio |
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Technology Web Extras - Piracy Bilcare develops nano fingerprint to check fake drugs
M. Somasekhar Hyderabad, Sept. 17 The counterfeit drug market in India is estimated to be around Rs 4,000 crore, according to a study done by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). In other words, 10-12 per cent of all drugs manufactured in the country fall into the category of counterfeit drugs. The global counterfeit drug business is worth nearly $50 billion at the end of 2006, according to various estimates. This again translates to about 10 per cent of the global pharma market. Giving these statistics, the Chairman and Managing Director of the Pune-based Bilcare Ltd, Mr Mohan Bhandari, said the company has developed a technology, which can check the menace to an extent. Nano fingerprinting technology, which the company has launched in the country recently, will help uniquely identify quality drugs, which are available in tamper-proof packages and labels. In simple words, when a consumer buys a drug from the pharmacy, he or she would be able to check the authenticity of the drug easily, if it has gone through the process of fingerprinting by the drug manufacturer using Bilcare anti-counterfeit technology. Each product will have a label which would contain the unique fingerprint. This can be authenticated by the brand owner or retailer or consumer by a scanner, which communicates the fingerprint detail to a data server and picks up a return signal to confirm it, he claimed. Bilcare technology relies on a set of nano particulate materials, which have unique properties. It has used these features to develop the technology, which includes scanners, nano tags, a data base and a communication system to establish the fine detail, he explained to Business Line. Bilcare Ltd is in talks with several large domestic pharma companies to implement the technology solution, which has been developed by the company’s Singapore team with support from the Pune R&D centre, he added. The Rs 650-crore turnover company had acquired a Singapore technology company-Singular ID, which was developing the anti-counterfeit technology and upgraded it to bring it to the market, Mr Bhandari said. Agreeing that counterfeit drugs are a significant problem confronting them, Mr Madhukar Gangadi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), MedPlus, the fast growing pharma retail chain with 520 outlets, says it follows a series of steps to overcome it. These include sourcing over 80 per cent of all drugs from the top 20-30 manufacturers; procuring in large enough quantities so that the agent and the producer have enough incentive to ensure quality, and thirdly, keep all the medical representatives, sales staff and key people in the loop, Mr Gangadi explained. Spurious Saridon tablets seized Survey on fake drugs More Stories on : Technology | Pharmaceuticals | Piracy
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