Source: iG - Guilherme Barros column, 10/10/2010

The security seal that Anvisa decided to adopt for the Medicines Control System will bring a considerable cost to the sector. According to calculations by the Brazilian Institute of Ethics in Competition (ETCO), the cost of stamps can reach R $ 140 million per year.

The entity's president, professor André Franco Montoro Filho, explains that each stamp costs R $ 0,07. "Multiplying by two billion packages of medicines that are produced per year, we reach R $ 140 million," he said.

For ETCO, the adoption of the traceability system would be the ideal model for reducing piracy and providing greater protection against cargo theft.

"This system may even have a higher initial cost, but it is diluted over time," said Montoro, emphasizing that the tracking would be carried out with the printing of a two-dimensional unit code.