The issue of fake drugs has always been a case of worry for all of us. A fake drug is generally not very different from the original one, but its composition might slightly be different and could result in fatal consequences for the patient. To prevent you from buying fake drugs, HP Labs has come up with a new innovative way using the cloud in which the customer has to send an SMS with the drug code written on the drug’s packet to a number, and within seconds a reply will come telling the customer of the authenticity of the drug.
Around 0.7 million people are affected by fake drugs in India according to an OECD report mentioned in this Times of India report. It’s not that we haven’t tried preventing the drug mafia from producing counterfeit drugs earlier. We have tried methods like barcoding and holograming, but to no avail. The situation is so bad that we are actually one of the biggest exporters of counterfeit medicines.
More on How to Spot Fake Drugs
The innovative method was earlier implemented in Africa by mPedigree, an African social enterprise in collaboration with HP Labs as the technical provider. What a good idea, especially for a region like Africa where counterfeiting of life-saving drugs affects many!
Here’s what a drug company will have to do:
- Register its products with a service provider, say HP Labs.
- Make drug packs with codes to verify.
The codes are stored on HP Labs cloud servers, and when a person will scratch the code on the medicine’s satchet, he’d be able to verify the drug’s authenticity by sending an SMS.
This service will surely do a lot of good for all of us – companies and customers. Here’s what Mr. Prith Banerjee, senior VP (research) and Director of HP Labs was quoted saying:
This technology not only provides commercial benefits to clients, but also helps to save lives.
The only negative factor for customers can be the increase in costs of the drugs. For life-saving drugs which are produced in millions, buyins so many codes would also mean putting them on the packets – a new packing technology might be needed. Or else, self-tagging would be too exhaustive and slow.
Possible Loopholes
The only ones which I can think of are:
- An insider puts tags on fake drugs.
- Someone leaks the codes to drug mafia.
Other loopholes will also be soon known as when this methodology will gain prominence in the drug markets.
Our Take
This sure seems a wonderful use of cloud technology. They were right when they said that the future lies in the cloud. This method looks promising in the quest to help customers identify counterfeit drugs and save lives. It can also be implemented across different industries where fake product distribution proves to be a loss for both he customer and the company. HP Labs was lucky to trend the start of an innovative method and will surely reap its benefits initially, but I can predict many more companies providing such technologies in the near future.
Cloud or no cloud! SMS or no SMS! Code or no code! Next time you go to buy medicines from the drug store, make sure you ask for a receipt. That reduces the chances of getting fake drugs tenfold, as no retailer would give you one when there would be chances of getting traced. This counterfeit business has always involved retailers, and so asking for the bill will let you be on the safe side. Get well soon!
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