[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6334\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u2018Fingerprinting\u2019 to stop flow of dark web drugs\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs of December 2015, over 920 suspected SSFFC (Substandard, Spurious, Falsely labelled, Falsified and Counterfeit) medical products have been reported to the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.who.int\/medicines\/regulation\/ssffc\/en\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EWorld Health Organization\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYet this could just be a glimpse of a much larger counterfeiting problem.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018It\u2019s like an iceberg,\u2019 said Dr Jamie Barras, a research fellow from King\u2019s College London, UK. \u2018The visible part of the problem is the drugs that are detected, which can run into the millions of pills every year, but what we can\u2019t see are the drugs that go undetected.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe main appeal of drugs from the so-called dark web, which includes unsearchable web pages, is that the public can buy \u2018anything and everything\u2019 for cheap, without a prescription, and get it delivered straight to the door.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut regardless of what people order, they share a common risk: they don\u2019t know what they are buying.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Drugs often go through several hands before they reach the consumer; this could be years after they are manufactured,\u2019 said Dr Barras.\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe reason drugs have use-by dates is that they break down and you get less of the active ingredient in a pill.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The actual breakdown can change its chemical constituency in a way that may even be harmful,\u2019 warned Dr Barras, who is also the technical manager of the EU-funded CONPHIRMER project which developed a handheld scanner to detect counterfeit medical products.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe scanner uses radio waves to record a digital \u2018fingerprint\u2019 of the contents from suspicious medical packages in customs or post offices.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe project, led by Prof. Kaspar Althoefer of the Department of Informatics at King\u2019s College London, UK, can then compare these signatures with a database of legitimate pharmaceutical \u2018fingerprints\u2019, allowing for a better, non-invasive way to locate counterfeit drugs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018There is always this question if there is a right to seize something,\u2019 said Dr Barras. \u2018But if you can give a definitive answer to that, at the sorting office, or at a market stall somewhere in equatorial Africa, you can give (customs) the confidence to take action.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECONPHIRMER now plan to develop the scanner until they can license it to a company or attract further investment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@aligncenter@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Researchers at a lab at King\u2019s College London, UK, developed a handheld scanner to detect counterfeit drugs. Image courtesy of the CONPHIRMER project \u0022 height=\u0022139\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/trials%20panorama.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Researchers at a lab at King\u2019s College London, UK, developed a handheld scanner to detect counterfeit drugs. Image courtesy of the CONPHIRMER project \u0022 width=\u0022600\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EResearchers at a lab at King\u2019s College London, UK, developed a handheld scanner to detect counterfeit drugs. Image courtesy of the CONPHIRMER project\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGangs\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECounterfeit pharmaceuticals are the product of crime, normally produced by gangs in India or China, and then exported around the world by other criminal organisations, either through the dark web or more conventional networks.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGangs can also take legitimate medication out of the global supply chain, allowing it to be manipulated, repackaged and resold into higher-income countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018They (criminal organisations) are flooding the market with falsified medicines, exploiting the loopholes which exist in different regulations and legislations,\u2019 said Marco Musumeci, programme coordinator at the United Nations Interregional Criminal and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) in Italy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018They are extremely good at masking themselves behind a sort of smoke screen to appear as licit market operators which are, for instance, simply redistributing medicines from some place where there is too much supply and send it to some place where there is too much demand,\u2019 he said.\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-bg-bluelightest tw-p-12 tw-my-12 tw--mx-16\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch3 class=\u0022tw-font-sans tw-font-bold tw-text-blue tw-uppercase tw-text-lg tw-mb-8\u0022\u003EThe Issue\u003C\/h3\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-inline-block tw-w-1\/6 tw-h-1 tw-bg-blue tw-mb-8\u0022\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EAs falsified medicines become more sophisticated the risk that they reach EU patients increases every year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn response the European Commission is funding different projects to tackle falsified and counterfeited pharmaceuticals as part of the Horizon 2020 funding programme.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdditionally, the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/health\/human-use\/falsified_medicines\/index_en.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EFalsified Medicines Directive\u003C\/a\u003E, published on 1 July 2011, introduced safety features such as an EU-wide logo to identify legal online pharmacies, tougher rules on the controls and inspections of producers of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and strengthened record-keeping requirements for wholesale distributors.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECriminal organisations are also able to swarm markets with \u2018knock-off\u2019 drugs as they are generally involved in a number of other illegal activities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018If they are producing illicit drugs like ecstasy pills then they have the machines to make other pills,\u2019 added Musumeci.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In terms of raw materials we know they use the cheapest, they don\u2019t care about what they put into the product.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe repackaging of drugs is also opening up possibilities for organised crime. Repackagers are those responsible for adapting the packaging and leaflets to local languages and for further distribution.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EActivities of repackagers are legal but what is often missing is an internationally recognised method to check repackaging authorisation. This is where organised crime can come into play.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018A variety of legitimate operators across the supply chain may be vulnerable to organised crime pressures. It\u2019s not just a question of corruption but of the intimidating power,\u2019 said Musumeci.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In the EU every operator should be checked, but in other countries this may not be the case.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMusumeci was part of the EU-funded SAVEMED project aiming to develop a solution for the illegal re-import problem. The project developed unique coding, marking, and special effects on products and packaging that can address the repackaging problem.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We used structural steel stamps that put a microstructure on the surface of pills which is in the pattern of a code and can be scanned by a high-speed 3D camera through its blister packs,\u2019 said Professor Paul Glendenning, CEO of nano4U GmbH, who coordinated the technical work in the SAVEMED project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy putting track and trace data on the pills, the medicine\u0027s content will always match the packaging.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018It\u2019s taking authentication to a different level because pharmaceutical companies at the moment are focusing on verifying the primary packaging, while we were checking the drug against the package,\u2019 said Prof. Glendenning, who is now looking for a company to take up the technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EArms race\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECounterfeiters are constantly adapting their methods and have created an arms race with the industry in their attempt to take advantage of the market.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018In terms of raw materials we know they use the cheapest, they don\u2019t care about what they put into the product.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EMarco Musumeci, Programme Coordinator, United Nations Interregional Criminal and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), Italy\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Counterfeiters will become more and more aggressive,\u2019 said Dr Guggi Kofod from the University of Potsdam, Germany, and coordinator at the EU-funded ACfoil project, which has developed anti-counterfeiting hologram foils.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We need \u2026 methods to prove the authenticity of medicine and treatments, both to protect the jobs that depend on the production and the consumers who need the products.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProducing holograms on packaging is expensive, particularly ones made from nanotechnology, that\u2019s why they are usually so small.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EACfoil solved this issue by combining a partner\u2019s high-tech laboratories with another\u2019s expensive packaging equipment to produce next-gen holograms that are 100 times faster and up to 10 000 times cheaper to make than current technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey are now looking to hire more staff in order to provide the hologram for big pharmaceutical companies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We can make unique products that are hard to replicate by counterfeiters,\u2019 said Dr Kofod. \u2018They demand a large investment so it would be very hard technologically and production-wise to match our holograms.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith counterfeiters losing ground in the packaging battleground, it is just a matter of time until they turn their attention elsewhere.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Dr Kofod, the key in stopping fake drugs is to address the entire supply chain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018If we could create a system with an unbroken chain of traceability, all the way from production to the end consumer, possibly via a scanning device or coding, and addressing repackaging, we put the power in the hands of the consumer, where it needs to be.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-iaye0cs4ewrcv8ifthqmrn4dyblobh3b-u0phdidioa\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-iaYe0cS4ewRcv8iftHqmrN4dyBLobH3B_U0PhDidiOA\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]