By Type: Blogs

What Defines a Successful Fuel Authentication Solution

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Author: Kathryn Olivier

By Kristi Browne, Senior Vice President, Services, Oil & Gas, Authentix

Certain operational functions and services are essential for an end-to-end fuel authentication solution that helps you mitigate risks to maximize revenue and gain a competitive advantage.

Protecting your brand is critical to thriving in today’s complex supply and distribution chain. When your branded fuel leaves the terminal, you expect it to be of the highest quality and purity. You also expect the same of the fuel that is provided to your customers at the pump. But in the downstream fuel supply chain, there are many variables that can negatively impact fuel integrity – putting both your revenue and brand’s reputation at risk. Without the right tools and technology to detect manipulation, you can never really be sure if what you’re delivering to your consumers are what they are expecting.

Unfortunately, fuel manipulation is not uncommon as the oil and gas industry operates with increasingly complex supply chains. And it’s easy to lose control of complex systems. When fuel enters your supply chain, it moves through fuel terminals to wholesalers and retailers that may include franchisees, oil marketing companies, sub-distributors, carriers, open dealers, and independent store owners. Fuel manipulation can occur at any stage of that journey.

Fuel marking is a very effective way to protect your brand from manipulation. A successful fuel authentication solution identifies both intended manipulation and inadvertent quality problems at distribution terminals with the use of advanced fuel markers and analyzers. But taking a proactive approach and determining the right authentication solution to fit your specific organization’s needs can seem daunting. Where do you begin? Developing an in-house solution is likely not feasible due to the lack of necessary tools and expertise. So how do you find the right partner to help you defend your supply chain from fuel manipulation? The key is choosing a partner that intimately understands your industry and your challenges and can provide comprehensive services and support – from strategy to implementation and beyond.

Get advice from a pro

Because the downstream supply chain is so complex, a fuel authentication solution is not going to come “off the shelf.” That means you’re going to want to partner with an organization that listens to and understands your specific needs and can draw from experience in solving all fuel manipulation problems, even the most complex. This knowledge will allow them to define your problem, then establish goals for the best solution to solve it.

Choose some design wizards

When designing your fuel authentication solution, the partner you choose should have a large “toolkit” so that they can pick and choose which tools and technologies should be included in your solution. When they have a breadth of advanced options in both overt and covert marking and analyzer systems, a range of technology (without being “married” to any specific one), and the flexibility to make changes as circumstances change, odds are they will develop and implement a solution that works for you. Of course, needs differ from company to company. You may have an urgent need for a legally-defensible, lab-authentication-based fuel marker. Or you may need instantaneous field authentication. You might even need both. A good fuel authentication partner will provide you all the options that lead to a successful outcome.

Follow great planning with great implementation

It’s not unheard of for fuel authentication programs to look good on paper but fall well short in the real world so it’s vitally important that your authentication partner has a great track record in implementation. This includes executing the solution as designed, deploying the right technology and tools, training your field personnel as needed, and managing the implementation process from beginning to end.

Choose a partner that stays with you for the long haul

A great authentication partner is never going to put your solution in place, brush their hands off, and walk away. They’re going to stay by your side to provide operational support, measure results, perform periodic auditing, and assign a dedicated resource to oversee the program. They should be unequivocally invested in your success.

Expect data that you can act on

Your authentication partner should provide a robust information system that uses sophisticated data analytics and intelligent reporting capabilities to enable you to make informed decisions and take the proper corrective action to best address the fuel manipulation problem over time. Advanced technology and a sound strategy are essential to shutting out fuel manipulation. With the right fuel authentication partner, you can confidently protect your brand and product from the terminal to the pump.

Kristi Browne is Senior Vice President, Services, Oil & Gas, at Authentix, the authority in authentication solutions. Authentix helps you thrive in supply and distribution chain complexity by providing advanced authentication solutions for governments, central banks and commercial products. These solutions ensure that local economies grow, banknote security remains intact, and commercial products have robust market opportunities. Our partnership approach and proven sector expertise inspires proactive innovation, helping you mitigate risks to promote revenue growth and gain competitive advantage.

The Right Authentication Solution Will Save Time, Millions and Lives.

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Author: Kathryn Olivier

Time is never on your side when your pharmaceutical product is counterfeited and your brand reputation is at stake.

The World Health Organization recently passed along some pretty alarming news: it cited statistics claiming that global sales of counterfeit pharmaceutical products could top $75 billion this year. That’s a 90% increase over the last five years! More than likely, your pharmaceutical company is in the process of addressing this growing problem. It’s critical that you adopt effective measures that prevent counterfeiting (below you’ll find a guide to some of the best tools available). The counterfeiters plaguing the pharmaceutical world are resourceful and relentless. Chances are, a counterfeit version of one of your products will eventually make its way into the marketplace. That’s when the ability to react swiftly becomes paramount—to beat the bad guys, you must have the right tools in place to instantly authenticate suspicious packages in the field, where and when it matters most.

You’ve heard the cliché, “Timing is everything”. That certainly holds true in the pharmaceutical world. When the authentication of your product takes too long, it can be extremely damaging to the patients who depend on your products for their health, to your revenue stream, and to your brand reputation. So, what’s the best route to being able to instantly authenticate your products in the field? By choosing the right authentication solution for your company. You have many options—here’s a look at the different tool sets that can assist you in authenticating suspicious packages reported in the field:

Authentication technologies that work

Overt security features

Visible to the naked eye, allowing health professionals and patients to easily identify the authenticity of the package. For overt features to be effective in identifying a counterfeit product, health professionals and patients must know what they are looking for when they inspect a package. Consequently, public education and awareness are very important elements of any overt security plan. Solutions commonly employed for overt security include:

  • Optically-variable inks
  • Pearlescent inks
  • Gold and silver inks
  • Anti-tampering technologies (tamper-evident closures and labels)
  • Optical security technologies (holographic seals and labels)

Covert security features

Utilize an image invisible to the naked eye, often printed with security inks on primary and/or secondary packaging. These security inks can only be detected using a device. Examples of security components and inks include:

  • Heat-activated inks
  • Color-revealing inks
  • Light-activated inks
  • Fugitive inks
  • UV-activated inks

Forensic markers

Being covert organic compounds, are not readily recognizable and require special tools for detection and validation. Whereas machine-readable taggants can be detected in the field, forensic markers must often be taken to a laboratory with specialized equipment. The use of forensic markers allow companies like yours to pursue legal actions against counterfeiters, conduct private investigations and cooperate with law enforcement agencies.

Serialization Track and Trace and Anti-Diversion solutions

They use two-dimensional data matrix codes and radio-frequency identity tagging. Each product is assigned a unique identifying code during the manufacturing process that allows it to be tracked, traced, verified, and recalled if necessary. Serialization “track and trace” methodology provides a basic security coverage, but it is likely to fall short of the overall goal of keeping the pharmaceutical supply chain free and clear of counterfeit drugs. Counterfeiters have access to the best printers and can easily copy unique codes and apply them to their counterfeit products. To combat them and create greater security in your supply chain, you must strengthen your anti-counterfeiting efforts by combining multiple authentication features.

Online monitoring

The Internet is one of the primary avenues counterfeiters use to pass off their counterfeit products to consumers. Keeping ahead of the counterfeiters is becoming more challenging in this space. Implementing a comprehensive online monitoring platform can help you quickly identify sites that are taking advantage of your brand, remove the counterfeit links, provide appropriate enforcement measures and help reduce online abuse.

It’s important to look for an online monitoring system that has internal and external capabilities to monitor dark web and gray web activities related specifically to online pharmacies. A constant review of the data is imperative to understand where breaches are taking place.

Choose an end-to-end authentication platform with “super powers”

Any of the solutions mentioned above will help authenticate a suspicious package reported in the field—but to stay ahead of the bad guys, you’re going to need more. You’re going to need an authentication platform with some serious power.

When you adopt this kind of customized authentication platform, you’re taking a proactive approach that combines the best available technologies—providing you with the “authentication super powers” needed to protect patients and your brand reputation. You’ll have access to an integrated set of software applications designed to enable successful deployment and operation of an authentication program. You’ll be able to act based upon brand insights that are aggregated, analyzed and reported directly to the smartphones, tablets and computers of your team. Best of all, you’ll be able to perform instant, in-field authentication allowing you to take immediate action.

Implementing a multi-layer approach takes you one step closer to successfully combating counterfeit products. This type of approach combines proven authentication tools with accurate data collection and analytics, providing you with authentication empowerment to save the day.

Remember, timing is everything. Having the right customized authentication solution will provide you with a proactive process that will save you time and, quite possibly, lives. When you can identify, and remove counterfeit products quickly, you’re bound to become your company’s authentication hero.

Contact us today and become an authentication hero.

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Elevating Your Brand Protection Strategy with Multilayered Security Solutions

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Author: Kathryn Olivier

By: Jeff Conroy, Chief Scientist, Authentix

Many companies are thinking more broadly about how to implement coordinated anti-counterfeiting, anti-diversion strategies across their brands and throughout different regions of the world. Just as tamper-evident seals on bottles of pills and liquid formulations became more common due to a tampering scare in the 1980s, attitudes toward anti-counterfeiting technologies are beginning to evolve.

Once viewing such measures narrowly as an “extra feature” that only “added cost” to the bottom line, brand owners are beginning to realize the importance of protecting the integrity of their brands and the most important part of the equation: protecting the safety of consumers. As serialization technologies continue to evolve, the tracking of individual units through the supply chain could enable very secure and traceable evidence of authentic products being supplied by manufacturers and distributors to end users.

Different Features, Different Purpose

Anti-counterfeiting features that can authenticate products are both overt and covert, and they can be applied in numerous ways: on labels, onto closure seals, on cartons where containers of products are stored, into plastic parts of individual packaging, and even onto metal and glass components of packaging.

The different types of features all serve a different purpose, from enabling end users to quickly identify a branded product as genuine, to covert markings that enable a manufacturer or inspector to identify the source of diversion or other illicit activity. When combined with the careful design and production quality controls used in authentic product manufacturing, these features raise the bar of complexity for counterfeiters and make the product a less attractive target.

With that said, it’s worth considering the value of individual security features versus a multilayered approach.

Overt security features

Visible security features serve a valuable purpose in the authentication stack. They offer a way for individuals to inspect packaging without any specialized tools, and the specialized color-shifting inks (similar to those used on currency) are often difficult to reproduce using scanners or reprographic methods. There are other types of optically variable features as well, including holograms, micro-optics (like the blue stripe found on the current US $100 bill), and reflective features.

Visible security features are a starting point, but counterfeiters are extremely creative and clever. Even if a visible authentication feature is hard to recreate perfectly, a counterfeiter only needs to copy it closely enough to confuse a consumer who just gives a package a quick glance. Additional features create layers of security.

Covert security features

High security covert features can be embedded into labels, closure seals, or other features of product packaging. Although such markers are invisible to the naked eye, they can be detected using specialized handheld surface spectrophotometers. Field instruments use proprietary excitation and detection optics and detection algorithms for rapid, secure field authentication. Additional forensic layers of security are also embedded into the materials and can be confirmed through more extensive laboratory analysis. This additional layer of security proves very difficult for the counterfeiter, but easily verified by field inspectors.

Serialization

In the serialization process, a company marks individual units at the point of manufacture (giving each a unique serial number) and implements stations to read those markings, capture the tracking data, and drop that information into a managed database that allows authorized personnel to monitor where products go after they leave the manufacturing facility. You’re probably most familiar with this process as it applies to shipping a package overnight, when you can track it on the Internet until it reaches its destination.

An effective anti-counterfeiting solution contains multiple, layered components

As a brand owner, it’s good to have options. However, the counterfeiter also has options. Fortunately, technology continues to evolve to help you protect your end users. Today’s reality is that one level of security isn’t enough.

Recently a number of technologies have become available that offer the benefit of not having to add any additional features to the packaging, but the imaging requirements on the production lines can be quite demanding and difficult to implement at speed. Once captured, the identification of the package can take place with conventional cameras, allowing widespread authentication and tracking by inspectors, retailers, or even consumers.

Any combination of covert or overt features or serialization enhance your anti-counterfeiting, anti-diversion strategies. Click here to learn more about brand protection. You can also contact Authentix at info@authentix.com.

Inspector Led Authentication’s Contribution to Brand Protection Programs

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Author: Kathryn Olivier

By: Andrzej Hornostaj, VP Brand Solutions, Authentix

Identification of an at-risk product and implementing an authentication solution is not the end of the story, it is just the beginning. Constant inspection of the product in the supply chain and marketplace is required to ensure useful actionable insights is generated to minimize counterfeit and diversion practices while protecting your brand and bottom line.

Let’s Begin with Inspection Design

Inspection design is determined by the objectives of the inspection. Let’s consider two relevant approaches. Will the inspection be reactive to a specific counterfeit event, or proactive determining the scale of counterfeiting and generating actionable insights?

Ideally, inspections, like any investigation, should follow a holistic approach involving several stakeholder teams including product, brand protection, investigative, and legal. Each team has its own requirements for the actionable insights generated from an inspection. Some critical stakeholder questions may be as follows:

Product: What’s the scale and location of the counterfeiting problem for a product?

Brand protection: What’s the level of sophistication of the counterfeit operation (production and logistics)? Are security features being copied? Are packaging design changes required?

Investigative: Can the right data be gathered to support investigations into the counterfeit’s supply chain and to identify the manufacturing source? Is the evidence strong enough that it can be passed on to legal and law enforcement to perform raids and prosecutions?

Who will conduct the inspections?

The boots on the ground can either be members of the brand owner’s staff or third-party inspection agencies working on their behalf. Ideally, to infer useful insights from an inspection, the more data collected the better. This need pushes the brand toward engaging a third-party that can provide the coverage and inspector numbers to achieve data volume.

As always, inspector safety is paramount and consideration should be taken as to whether the inspector needs to be accompanied by law enforcement representatives.

Where to direct initial inspection efforts?

I would suggest initial efforts begin at the retail level where products of interest are typically more accessible to covert inspection. This type of insight helps to determine the scale or extent of the problem and generates a suitable baseline against which further inspections and remediation efforts may be compared. As pharmaceuticals are usually not accessible at pharmacies, other locations in the supply chain should be the initial focus.

Once a baseline is established, then testing of supply chain integrity should be performed. Keep in mind, some obstacles may be encountered at this stage as it is not always possible to accurately track the route by which products reach the end user beyond the first tier distributors.

To assist access / auditing of stock at distributors, brands should ensure that cooperation agreements allow for inspections with short notification times. This will prevent suspect items from being removed from the audit location by a guilty party.

Which inspection tools should be used?

Having the right tools during an inspection to automatically capture the data required for each stakeholder is important and ensures that repeat testing is minimised. With the right type of reader paired with a smart device, inspectors are equipped to not only identify counterfeit products, but also capture location data and photographs of the packaging. This complete picture of the scale and sophistication of the counterfeit operation can form the basis of effective enforcement actions.

Click here to learn more about brand protection. You can also contact Authentix at info@authentix.com.

Responsible Fuel Supply Chain Management Just Makes $ense

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Author: Kathryn Olivier

Illegal Fuel Trade, Supply Chain Integrity and Technology

By: Erwin Dorland, Advisory Program Delivery Manager, Authentix

When addressing the problem of fuel smuggling or fuel fraud, responsible fuel supply chain management isn’t just a simple question of doing the right thing – it makes financial sense.

Responsible management and minimising risks within the fuel supply chain will ensure quality and security of the supply chain.

Financial gain is often the key motive behind supply chain infiltration, as illegal practices can be extremely lucrative1. Often the legal and regulatory framework is weak, the risks are low and the financial gains can be high. As mentioned in a previous BLOG, in many cases, organised crime is involved, which contributes to the growth of this type of fraud.

Most countries have significant problems with lower taxed fuels being sold at higher taxed prices. For example, in Europe, diesel is sold at a lower tax rate for agricultural use, but is illegally used by road users, who are supposed to purchase higher taxed diesel. This type of fraud is preventing governments from collecting the right amount of taxes, which impacts government programs, the well-being of all citizens and the environment in which we live. In my experience, there are four key areas of focus to ignite action against the business of illicit fuel trade.

Visibility

Visibility refers to the ability to see what is going on within the supply chain. Fundamentally, having access to information will enable managers to make better decisions.

Information technology is at the root of supply chain management. With the advent of the Internet and the Cloud, information exchanges can involve many stakeholders and enables access to critical data 24/7.

Traceability

Traceability is closely related to visibility and refers to the ability to track the fuel’s provenance and maintaining a record of activities of the product flow.

Several tools are available to ensure traceability as fuel moves through the supply chain. The advancements in technology now allow stakeholders to tap into a variety of information sources for a balanced view of supply chain participants and risks. The fuel industry has a number of tools available, such as visible dyes, covert dyes, chemical markers, sealing of tankers, GPS tracking of trucks, dipping of trucks, and wet stock control to track products, to ensure quality and prevent fraud.

Integrity

National governments are increasingly being held accountable for policy actions and therefore the governments’ awareness of and commitment to high principles and business practices is increasing.

The exposure of irresponsible practice in the supply chain can result in severe damage to national governments’ reputation and citizens’ trust. For example, governments not collecting the available taxes and having the appropriate system in place to do so, might have a negative standing with citizens.

Transparency

Transparency refers to national governments’ engagement and communication with external stakeholders. Such engagement is designed to share the national governments’ practices with those that have an interest in the governments’ behaviour, including environmental and social performance. Supply chain issues are becoming more and more visible to citizens and stakeholders. Therefore, developing transparent information systems and processes to communicate sustainable supply chain practices is vital. For example, governments can use social media to inform and educate citizens about their approach to responsibility, by promoting supply chain transparency.

Ready for Action?

To really support the initiative to stop fuel smuggling and fuel fraud, making the supply chain more resilient to supply chain risk involves attaining a good understanding of the supply chain and conducting analysis of the potential threats and the level of risk4. Technology can be used to verify fuel authenticity and tampering. The resulting information will need to be captured using the appropriate information technology and made visible to the appropriate stakeholders.

Among the considerations of the technologies to be used, must be the ability for the technology to pay for itself. Government and policy makers need to be educated regarding the risks of fuel adulterations and how the legal and regulatory framework need to work hand-in-hand with the introduction of technologies. Awareness needs to be created that no technology will provide absolute supply chain security, as there are always weaknesses to be exploited. The key is to understand the key risks and put tools in place to collect the appropriate information, so those risks can be managed.

Click here to learn more about how Authentix’s Vigilant® offering is helping governments prevent fuel fraud. You can also learn more about Assure™, our brand protection fuel marking program for oil marketing companies.

 

References

  1. Illicit Trade, Supply Chain Integrity, and Technology – www3 … – Illicit Trade, Supply Chain Integrity, and Technology, J Picard and C.A. Alvaranga
  2. https://dupress.deloitte.com/dup-us-en/topics/operations/supply-chain-transparency.html – The path to supply chain transparency, D Linich, University of Tennessee
  3. Creating a Transparent Supply Chain Best Practices – Global Supply…  – Creating a Transparent Supply Chain – Best Practices, University of Tennessee
  4. Manage your supply chains responsibly – Business in the Community – How to: Manage your supply chains responsibly, Business in the community

The Harmful Implications of Illicit Fuel Trade—the economy, the people, the environment

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Author: Kathryn Olivier

Written by: Kevin McKenna, President, Oil & Gas, Authentix
Stop Fuel Fraud Series

People often ask me what I do for a living. When I state that I manage a business that helps detect and deter illicit fuel trade, most of the time the response is a confused look and the question, “What is illicit fuel trade, and is that really a problem?” My quick answer is that illicit fuel trade is likely the biggest problem that you have never heard of. The first step in tackling this menace is to shed light on its existence and the harm it inflicts on society.

For the past couple of weeks, we’ve produced some different blog posts discussing illicit fuel trade, a major worldwide problem stealing billions of dollars from governments, legitimate businesses, and consumers. “Illicit trade” can be the simple case of outright theft, which is very prevalent in Mexico today, where the state oil company, Pemex, says it lost about $1.6B in 2016 from fuel stolen from over 6,800 pipeline taps across the country. Another scheme of illicit trade is made possible by exploiting the differences in price between fuels or other petroleum products because of tax differences, subsidies, different grades, or product types (e.g., adulteration with non-fuel products such as solvents or waste oils).

Why fuel fraud is hard to detect

In both cases of illicit trade, the execution of the crime is simple – take a lower price (or stolen) product and either mix it with a higher priced product or replace it outright – sell the fuel at full price and pocket the difference. Even small differences in product prices can generate massive returns for criminals due to the sheer volume of petroleum products consumed every day. The crime is further enabled by the difficulty in detecting when it is perpetrated.

What does this mean to you?

Most consumers never see the road fuels that they purchase, and even if they did, an illicit product may look the same as legitimate product. If as a consumer, I unwittingly buy adulterated fuel at the premium price, obviously, I don’t get what I paid for; but it can also damage the engine of my car, reduce my fuel economy, and increase air pollution. The government doesn’t collect the taxes it needs, legitimate businesses suffer from unfair competition, and the reputation of oil marketing company brands may be unfairly tarnished.

At Authentix we believe that a system of fair and open commerce serves as a powerful agent for good throughout the world. When this system is compromised by illicit trade, civil society is weakened. The scope and scale of illicit fuel trade is particularly damaging in this regard – diverting money to organized crime and, in some cases, terrorist organizations, while defrauding governments of tax revenue necessary to fund programs in the service of their citizens. In many cases these taxes are a significant portion of the country’s total tax revenue – any shortfall in collection may necessitate higher taxes in other areas, placing an even larger tax burden on the populace.

The only people benefiting are the criminals perpetuating the crime – and it is BIG business. Our experience in several countries is that the illicit trade rate in the fuel supply chain was over 30% – translating into hundreds of millions of dollars each year lost to criminals in each of these countries.

Time to disrupt the business of illicit fuel trade

Fuel Marking Programs (FMPs) are a highly effective means to redistribute illicit gains away from organized crime and savings toward legitimate businesses and Government, while ensuring consumers get the quality products for which they have paid. In weeks to come, we will dive into FMPs and how we have seen FMPs assist governments in enforcement of policies prohibiting illicit fuel trade. Many of these programs deliver a significant return on investment of usually five to 10x the cost of the program.

I hope you recognize the lasting implications illicit fuel trade has on all of us. Usually after an awakening to how people’s everyday lives are affected, the next question is typically, “Why isn’t every government doing an FMP?” My personal opinion, it’s the same reason that most citizens aren’t aware of the problem and the harm it brings to their community – something we at Authentix are working diligently to change.

Click here to learn more about how Authentix’s Vigilant® offering is helping governments prevent fuel fraud. You can also learn more about Assure™, our brand protection fuel marking program for oil marketing companies.

There Are No Shortcuts To Safe Medicines

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Author: Kathryn Olivier

The Partnership for Safe Medicines® recently hosted a panel briefing of several former federal law enforcement officials and public health experts to discuss the merits of recent prescription drug importation proposals[1]. The panel highlighted one of the often overlooked aspects of these proposals aimed to quickly reduce the cost of prescription drugs to patients in need in the United States: the safety of these drugs that would circumvent current FDA regulated domestic supply chains.

Certainly the promise of lower cost prescription drugs is a powerful message to an electorate that sees the costs of these medicines continue to rise while stories of lower cost drugs in other parts of the developed world also make headlines. But those other countries have carefully negotiated and managed supply chains with pharmaceutical companies that ensure the safety of their drugs and often make it illegal to fill a prescription from outside the country. Such is the case in Canada, where Canadian pharmacies cannot fill prescriptions for U.S. patients. Instead, internet pharmacies that claim to be Canadian import drugs or counterfeits sell them to unsuspecting consumers. Like it has for so many other industries, the internet has enabled easy access of buyers and sellers, but with little accountability for product quality or authenticity. Consumers are left to trust the supplier is legitimate, often with no means for recourse if there is a problem.

So why not simply empower the FDA with oversight on importation of drugs from other countries to help ensure safety? That’s a reasonable proposal, but one that will undoubtedly add to the cost of importation. Furthermore, this is not a U.S. only policy problem. For example, if the U.S. and Canada were to legalize the import/export of drugs between the two countries, what would be the effect on Canadian drug prices? In 2014, total Canadian expenditures on prescription drugs was estimated to be $29B[2]. By comparison the United States spent $374B[3]. Even a mild influx of orders from the U.S. could stress the Canadian system, more importantly Canadians, affect pricing since drug companies will be forced to negotiate with Canada as an international supplier, and not a domestic single payer system, certainly driving up costs for Canadians.

The U.S. has left the pharmaceutical industry largely unregulated when it comes to pricing. We have no single payer system, we do not place limits on pricing, and we let the profit motivation of the free market system drive pricing, profit, investment, and innovation. And while we can certainly feel the effects of rising drug costs, we can also see that this system has of its own accord driven us to greater and greater innovation for treatments and cures, and has created a very secure supply chain for the sale and distribution of those medicines. There is almost certainly some kind of change and reform coming to healthcare costs in the U.S., and the pharmaceutical industry will have its part to play, but compromising safety cannot be part of the equation.

Counterfeiting and diversion of medicines and medical products are global issues that affect all countries. These illegal activities threaten the health and welfare of the citizens who receive fake or substandard product, as well as threaten the revenues of brand owners. These activities also undermine the efforts of the government to ensure the availability of affordable drugs to its citizens, thus enabling the proliferation of disease, which can lead to development of drug resistant pathogens.

Authentix is dedicated to the development of products and services that allow the authentication of products and their packaging in supply chains around the world. Authentix provides integrated programs that enable manufacturers to protect their products in complex supply and distribution chains, and informatics to monitor and report on problems as they become apparent.

For more information visit http://authentix.com/offerings/sherlox/.

1.) http://www.safemedicines.org/2017/04/the-fallacy-of-drug-importation.html
2.) https://www.cihi.ca/en/canadians-spent-288-billion-on-prescription-drugs-in-2014
3.) http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-drug-costs-20150414-story.html

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