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DNA labelling increases protection from counterfeiting
Stuttgart, Germany, 10 July 2008
The proportion of counterfeit products is reported recently
from the European Commission to be rapidly increasing. There
are figures to back this up, showing that manufacturers
of high-quality products, including those in the pharmaceutical
industry, are among the worst hit. In addition to the harm
caused to pharmaceutical manufacturers through damage to
their image and loss of sales, the health risks for patients
is of paramount importance here. Movianto together with
identif GmbH have developed a solution: by adopting the
DNA coding method the pharmaceutical products become secure.
The healthcare logistics provider Movianto, in collaboration
with identif GmbH, is working to eliminate drug counterfeiting.
Manufacturers have the possibility to mark their valuable
products with an anti counterfeit label. "If you want
to protect your brand from misuse and guard it against loss
of image, reliably and effectively, you must always remain
one step ahead of the criminals", states Marcus Weichert,
Managing Director of identif GmbH. "For this reason,
we have specialised in safety markings that are regarded
as providing an extremely high level of protection against
counterfeiting - DNA markings."
The innovative procedure makes it possible to track the
distribution path of the drug from the manufacturer to the
patient. To achieve this, two single strands of synthetically
produced DNA are used. Due to their unique sequence of DNA
building blocks, these strands fit together as a key fits
in a lock. One of the single DNA strands (lock) is integrated
into a safety label. The second complementary DNA strand
(key) is located in a detection pen, provided separately.
When the two individual DNA strands come together, an extremely
specific hybridisation takes place, means that the 2 single
strands are united to a complete DNA strand. If the product
is genuine, the scanner will emit a positive signal.
"By using DNA coding, pharmaceutical manufacturers
will be able to do more than simply guarantee to their customers
that the products are genuine", explains Conor Roche,
Managing Director, Movianto Group. "This process will
also enable manufacturers to depict the paths of the drugs
in a transparent manner and to trace these."
About identif
identif GmbH is a 95% subsidiary of november AG, with the
US group DuPont also holding 5% of its shares. identif GmbH
develops and markets products for effective protection against
product piracy and illegal excess production and to enable
the effective monitoring of supply chains and distribution
paths. To do this, identif GmbH concentrates on two marking
systems. A visible transitional colour mark known as "ispec",
based on nano-technology, and an invisible DNA marking with
the appropriate name "ihide".
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