Author: Ivet Rodríguez

Source: Empaque Performance - 15/07/2010

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO (Manufactura) - In the countries developing the drug piracy it will be up to 50% of what is commercialized, although at the global level this percentage is 10%, with the consequent risk for the health of them consumers, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The medicine robot in Mexico causes annual losses of 2,000 mdp for the sector, according to the president of the National Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry (Canifarma), Rafael Gual.

The employee assures that the robots will carry out the distribution chain, and that illegal products will be sold to unauthorized locals.

A new technology known as Track & Trace could be the solution to this problem. Nowadays, Turkey and France are used, although Korea, China, Brazil, Spain, Portugal are in the process of adopting this technology in the packaging of medicines to prevent their robbery, smuggling and counterfeiting, ensuring the general director of Tradimport from Mexico, Charles Beard.

"With the aim of reducing the impacts of smuggling and counterfeiting of medicines, if technologies have been sought, such as holograms and bar codes, which will allow the product to be traced since it has been stamped up to the final consumer," he says.

The tracking system called Track and Trace, for example, allows each product to be identified by means of a unique serialization code with the purpose of authenticating it (confirming its origin) and facilitating its traceability (knowing where it is always produced off the chain). productive), explains Beard.

To achieve this, a packaging system is provided with a vision system that has the function of generating 2D codes together with legible lines for the human eye; both contain a product identification number, batch number, expiry date and unique code generated by chance, details of the directive.

In Mexico there is no legislation that requires pharmaceutical laboratories to place these types of devices on products to allow their commercialization.

Nevertheless, the demand for systems of traceability in medicines for their export, as well as the urgency to diminish the economic losses caused by the piracy of products, generating the need in the country to implement this type of technologies, to ensure and Laetus director for Latin America, Carlos Guidobono.

According to the directive, for the implementation of Track and Trace to be viable, it is not enough to reform the laws; there is a need to make manufacturers aware of the importance of investing in traceability systems in order to reduce the falsification of medicines, even in the first moment no real gains are perceived.

It also requires the management of consecutive links between what is received, produced, packed, stored and transported off the supply chain, he explains.

Broadly speaking, this type of technology will bring benefits to consumers by allowing them to ensure the authenticity and quality of medicines, which manufacturers will allow to protect the brand, which will represent greater productivity, quality and control of their products, predicts Guidobono.

By: Ivet Rodríguez