From October, drug companies sending their medicines to overseas markets will have to compulsorily sport bar-codes on their tertiary or outer-most packaging.
This track-and-trace move was initiated by the Government after, among other things, instances of fake “Made in India” medicines surfaced in Africa.
“Made in India” fakes in the Nigerian market last year, for instance, were found to have originated in China, forcing the Indian pharmaceutical industry and Government to implement measures to protect “Brand India”.
Though companies are readying themselves with bar-coding systems, the move is not fool-proof, besides it throws up logistic problems, say pharma industry representatives. There is no point in implementing bar-codes from the manufacturers' end, if importing countries are not integrated into the system, they point out.
It is a “heavy task” to implement bar-codes on the secondary and primary levels, especially for the 8,000- odd small-scale companies, observes Mr N.R. Munjal, President of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association and Vice-Chairman of Pharmexcil (Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council).
Importing markets too need to be in line with the systems India is putting in place, otherwise the bar-code system defeats the purpose, says Mr Munjal, who is to take over as Chairman-Pharmexcil this week.
The Government mandates companies to implement bar-codes on secondary carton levels and primary medicine strip and bottle levels, to keep a track of every product in the market place.
It is difficult to crowd small ampoules or vials used in injectables, for instance, with information and barcodes, industry representatives agree.
Alternative measures are being discussed with the Government, Mr Munjal told Business Line .
A maker and exporter of medicines into Nigeria, VS International founder Mr Vidyut Shah has to constantly implement measures that are one step ahead of counterfeiters.
VSI has dealt with counterfeits of its medicines in Nigeria through a hydra-headed approach of working with local regulatory and enforcement agencies, ground-level intelligence and different levels of packaging and printing ink differentiators that only the manufacturer and the importers are aware of.
To counter fakes, the initiative needs to be better thought through and integrated with systems of importing countries. While bar-codes can be faked, Nigeria, for instance, does not have bar-code readers, he says emphatically.
“If you are concerned about brand India, the exercise needs to be comprehensive and across markets,” he says, underlining nevertheless, that anti-counterfeit measures are a must for the benefit of manufacturers and consumers.