The Hidden Challenges Of Pharmaceutical Serialization

By Mark Shaffer

In the almost 40 years since counterfeiting of pharmaceutical products was recognized as a problem by the World Health Organization (WHO), the industry has waged a constant battle against increasingly sophisticated and organized counterfeiters, with drug packaging serving as one of its foremost defenses.

The true extent of the counterfeiting is unknown, since no global study has ever been carried out, but according to WHO estimates, up to 15% of all medicines are counterfeit and there was a recorded rise of 92% in seizures of falsified medicines between 2005-2011.