Overview

Counterfeit products are rising, especially in the pharmaceutical market, where profit margins are incredibly high, and detection is challenging. According to a recent report, the total value of counterfeit pharmaceuticals traded worldwide in 2023 was $4.4 billion. 

Read on as we explore the world of pharmaceutical counterfeiting and discuss why investing in a digital artwork management tool can help curb the rise of fake drugs.
‍

The Impact of Counterfeit Products

As pharma supply chains expand beyond geographies, drugs manufactured in one country may be packaged in a second country and distributed to be sold to consumers in a third. This provides more accessible grounds for counterfeiting agencies to manufacture substandard or fake medicines. 

The growth of virtual pharmacies further supports the counterfeiting industry, making it easy for patients to purchase medicines online, often from unauthorized sources. Here are the five major risks of pharma counterfeiting:

1. Health and safety risks: When it comes to pharma counterfeiting, there is widespread trafficking of everyday cough syrup, anxiety, and cancer medications. While medicines made from inert ingredients render them ineffective for their intended treatment, those containing potentially lethal narcotics like fentanyl21 and methamphetamine can be life-threatening. 
   ‍
2. Poor brand reputation: Counterfeit medications can impact brand reputation when passed off as authentic or genuine. Containing wrong, too much, or too little active ingredients, they tend to attract negative publicity, impacting market standing.
   ‍
3. Competitive disadvantage: When faced with the counterfeit challenge, genuine pharma brands experience a competitive disadvantage. As they navigate legal and compliance-related issues, they often witness competitor products meeting the market's needs and experiencing higher sales and profits.
   ‍
4. Lost customer trust: Medicines that are deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled, have fake packaging, or contain the wrong ingredients also impact customer trust and loyalty. This affects consumers' ability to trust the quality of drugs in an open marketplace, and it takes brands years to regain that trust.
   ‍
5. Expensive lawsuits: The pharmaceutical industry has strong legal frameworks for licensing, manufacturing, and distributing medicines. Any compliance issue can lead to expensive lawsuits and hefty fines, impacting the overall functioning of the business.

‍

The Role of Digital Artwork Management

Investing in a modern packaging and artwork lifecycle management system is a great way to combat pharma counterfeiting in a digital age. A robust digital artwork management solution introduces efficiencies in every step of the artwork's journey, from collating content to limiting access, auditing labels, inspecting prints, etc. 

Companies in highly regulated industries like pharma can leverage digital artwork management to reduce reworks and approval times, achieve compliance, and significantly reduce their product’s time-to-market. Here’s what a modern artwork management solution brings to the table to thwart pharma counterfeiting:

1. Centralized storage: Digital artwork management allows pharmaceutical companies to store, organize, and manage all product and packaging assets from a central system. Such centralized storage, with easy search and retrieval options and customizable checklists, helps companies stay on track and complete all necessary steps.
   ‍
2. Single sign-on: With a digital artwork management system, pharma companies can leverage the benefits of a single sign-on (SSO) feature, improving security and limiting artwork manipulation. By securely empowering users to access multiple applications using a single set of credentials, SSO minimizes the chances of hacking, human error, and phishing attempts.
   ‍
3. Real-time tracking: Drugs in the market undergo numerous changes driven by regulatory or brand needs. A digital artwork management solution offers real-time tracking capabilities, ensuring a thorough and secure artwork review process. Any unexpected changes can generate alerts, allowing pharma companies to take appropriate action while seamlessly adapting to frequent label changes arising from regular regulation updates.
   ‍
4. User and role-based access control: Digital artwork management solutions offer robust user and role-based access control, enhancing security and compliance. Strict access control measures ensure that only authorized users across regulatory, packaging, QA, marketing, and legal teams can access specific assets and projects and make changes.
   ‍
5. AI-powered proofing: With digital artwork management, pharma companies can leverage various AI-powered proofing tools. These intelligent tools can inspect artworks across multiple aspects, including graphics, text, barcodes, etc., allowing accurate measurement and markup of changes. They can also compare artworks, leaflets, and inserts and perform rigorous print inspections on existing and new content.
   ‍
6. Electronic signatures: Electronic signatures with authentication and logging offer a reliable and secure way of approving documents. Tamper-proof, they prevent unauthorized access, unapproved alterations, and document forgery, limiting the chances of counterfeiting or dispute.
   ‍
7. Audit trails with time stamps: Digital artwork management solutions enable audit trails with time stamps, allowing pharma companies to ensure regulatory compliance. By recording the history and details around artwork copies, companies can verify and track the authenticity of edits and changes, maintain brand consistency across all products and markets, and reduce the risk of counterfeits and recalls.
   ‍
8. SSL-based communication: Digital artwork management systems enable and ensure SSL-based communication. By providing a secure and encrypted connection for all communications between stakeholders, these systems ensure all data remains private and isn’t intercepted or tampered with by malicious entities

Facilitate Drug Authenticity with ManageArtworks

As the fake drug market continues to flourish, pharmaceutical companies are under immense pressure to ensure the legitimacy and authenticity of the drugs they manufacture. With a digital artwork management solution like ManageArtworks, they can effectively and securely manage pharmaceutical artwork copies and minimize the chances of drug counterfeiting. 

ManageArtworks can help pharmaceutical companies bring drugs to the market faster, avoid expensive mistakes, reduce recalls, and ensure compliance by offering customized workflows, audit trails, checklists, and automated proofing and comparison capabilities. 

Explore the solution today!