Source: Gazetaweb - AL - CAPA - 02/11/2009

The drugs sold in Brazil will gain a security system against counterfeits. The technology will make it possible to track where the drugs have gone until they reach the consumer.

The system will be similar to that used in some supermarkets, in which fruits and vegetables have a number, a kind of RG, with which the consumer can check on the internet where they were produced.

In the chemical industry, the concern is to avoid counterfeiting and smuggling. A seal with an anti-fraud label, which has a holographic seal and bar code, is the bet to reverse losses of US $ 20 million per year.

With an optical reader, it is possible to know if the product is authentic and when and where it was manufactured.

"This customer has the security of knowing that that product was produced by the original manufacturer, so that he is not the target of buying a counterfeit product, a stolen product", says Eduardo Leluc, director of a chemical industry.

The pharmaceutical industry also relies on this system to end illegal trade. In the first half of this year, 316 tons of counterfeit drugs were seized, seven times what was collected in the same period in 2008 (45,5 tons).

As of January, all medicines manufactured in the country will also be able to be tracked by the consumer to avoid counterfeiting. The more than 2 billion packages produced per year will have to leave the industry with an identification, a unique code, which will allow to locate the drug and reveal the path taken by it.

In the first phase, factories, distributors and pharmacies will have to install the tracking system. Each time the drug changes hands, the change is recorded in a database administered by the government. If the consumer suspects that he has bought a counterfeit drug, he can quickly remove the doubt.

The change will require investment from companies and the government has warned that it will not allow transfers to the consumer.

A manufacturer supports the measure, but fears it will not adapt in time because Health Surveillance has not defined the technology that will be used.

"Our suppliers do not have the installed capacity to serve all industries in a short time that Anvisa is determining", says Márcio Valentim, production engineer.

In 2012, the system will also identify the doctor who prescribed the medicine and the patient who bought it. Anvisa says that there will be a secure system to guarantee the confidentiality of doctors and patients and that it works within the deadline to regulate the law.