
The menace of fake medicines in India is scary. Many well known brands are becoming the victims of counterfeit medicines. We must be able to trust the medicine we buy from the chemist, and if the neighborhood chemist can not be trusted, what are the alternatives? Can we trust the leading online pharmacies? Do they have the quality assurance systems to ensure that fake drugs do not enter their supply chain?
I have heard of interesting SMS and barcode based technology solutions that pharma companies can adopt. Consumers can then check the product for genuineness using their mobile phones. I wonder why pharma companies have been too slow to adopt such technologies. One such solution provider is onspot technologies (www.onspotsolutions.com). There are others as well.
The law needs to catch up too. Drug counterfeiters must face attempt to murder charges.
Here is a link to the article titled “Countdown to Ayushman Bharat: India’s canny fake drug manufacturers are giving regulators a hard time”.
This post was written after coming across this article: https://prime.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/65393480/pharma-and-healthcare/countdown-to-ayushman-bharat-indias-canny-fake-drugmakers-are-giving-regulators-a-hard-time