Mediworld Final Draft for Print

Feature
Leading the battle
against counterfeit drugs
PharmaTrack, Unisys's newest innovation, combines leading security, advanced data
analytics and compliance technology to help combat theft and counterfeit drugs
Pharmaceuticals have long being used to improve
health and extent our lives. However, the
practice of drug delivery changed dramatically
in the past decades but getting drugs safely and
efficiently from the manufacturer to the patient has
been a long-standing issue for pharmaceutical
companies.
Stolen, counterfeit and FDA regulated products such
as prescription or over the counter medicines,
medical devices and so on put us consumers at risk in
the most drastic way possible. They may be caused
by products not being stored or handled properly or
may have been tempered with while out of the normal
supply chain, making then either unsafe or
ineffective. The worst part is that these products can
also re-enter the supply as a result of illegal handling
by individuals or by distributors.
The supply chain is an integral component of the entire
pharma industry and the industry has long struggled
with finding better ways to get drugs from the
manufacturer to the patient more quickly, efficiently
and with less cost.
However, the most important issue is the scourge of
counterfeiting in compromising patient safety. It is
estimated that up to 15 per cent of the drugs in the
supply chain at any given time are counterfeit. Making
sure people are taking the drugs they have been
prescribed is an important moral issue, as well as a
business issue. Counterfeiting also places significant
cost burden on pharma companies themselves which
impacts the price that we as consumers have to pay.
Mediworld ME recently discussed in detail with Mark
Sabotti, Director of Healthcare & Life Sciences, Unisys
Asia Pacific, Unisys's new innovation called
PharmaTrack.
Enhanced visibility
PharmaTrack, Unisys's newest innovation combines
leading security, advanced data analytics and
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