Author: Geórgea Choucair

Source: Diário de Pernambuco Online - Recife / PE - 03/01/2010

The government, industry and drug traders have joined forces to fight illegality in the drug trade in the country, which moves from R $ 6 billion to R $ 8 billion a year, according to an estimate by the Brazilian Institute of Ethics in Competition (Etco). The drugs sold in Brazil are on track to gain a two-dimensional bar code, also called Datamatrix, which will be the technology used to guarantee the traceability of the units. The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) intends that technology is the main tool to guarantee the traceability of products, that is, it will make it possible to recover historical and geographical information about the path taken by medicines from their production to delivery to the consumer.

From January to October this year, Anvisa seized 329 tons (30,55 boxes) of unregistered, counterfeit, smuggled or expired drugs. The seizure was made in partnership with the Federal (PF) and Rodoviária Federal (PRF) police. The favorites of counterfeiting gangs and smugglers are the drugs against sexual impotence, recommended for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, for guaranteeing high profits and being among the best selling drugs in the country. They were present in most of the seizures made by Anvisa throughout this year.

The price of drugs against erectile dysfunction is one of the main attractions for gangs. The box with two 50mg tablets of the main brands - Viagra, by Pfizer, and Cialis, by Eli Lilly - costs, on average, R $ 55. “In addition, they are on the list of the best selling medicines in the country”, observes André Franco Montoro Filho, president of Instituto Etco, which has a Sectorial Chamber of Medicines whose objective is to combat unfair competition in the sector (such as counterfeiting, smuggling and any irregular sale). The illegal sale of medicines, says Montoro Filho, is responsible for about 27% of the drug market in the country.

The internet is an ally of trafficking in counterfeit drugs, especially drugs to combat impotence. The anonymity of the seller, coupled with the shame of looking for official means to address the problem of sexuality, gives strength to the online illegal market for medicines. “Sales through websites are a concern. But in Brazil, this business is still small when compared to the illegal drug trade over the Internet in the United States and Europe ”, observes the president of Etco.

Security - Federal Law 11.903, enacted by the government earlier this year, mandates that drug manufacturers include a safety device in their packaging that allows the drug to be traced from its manufacture to the consumer. Drug manufacturers have three years to adapt to the measure. The first year expires in January 2010.

In June, Etco did a pilot test of a two-dimensional code printed directly on the box, which allows it to store more than 64 characters about the manufacturer, such as batch, product, date of manufacture, validity and the serial number. The code is a kind of barcode evolved with dots and a numerical sequence. The test was carried out in 75 thousand units of seven laboratories, in partnership with Anvisa. ”It's like the chassis of an automobile. The result was a success, as we were able to track it without major changes in production, industry and retail distribution ”, celebrates Montoro Filho.

Unlike the common barcode, which is visible and contains only one number, the two-dimensional can store thousands of information, such as numbers, letters and other data. According to Anvisa, all will be gathered in the Unique Identifier of Medicines (IUM), which will be in each unit sold and will be printed on security labels produced specifically for this purpose.