I suppose that counterfeiters could do that, however if mPedigree is smart, their system will recognize when the exact same code is being verified by different people. The system could then remove that code from the certified database.

I would be concerned if this database contained only patented versions of medicines, and not also their generic or synthetic equivalent. In that case, it would seem to be a propaganda tool from Big Pharma.

Also implement life sentences for drug counterfeiters.

Unless there was a political motive by China to defame India, if and when the drug counterfeiters are caught in China, they’ll be swiftly executed, just as the producers of products tainted with melamine and diethylene glycol were.

In China, corporatism is Serious Business.

It is an efficient, quick top-down solution; but it is totally top-down.

Oh, wait, what?

One of the nonprofits I work for writes up and archives just a few of the incidents that are really noteworthy at:
http://www.safemedicines.org/counterfeit-drug-incident-encyclopedia.html

The problem is very widespread in the whole world though. We’re very protected from it in the US, but elsewhere, people die, regularly, from counterfeits either because they don’t do the job they need to do, or because they’re actually made with harmful ingredients.

And where exactly are you having this ‘challenge’? I thought mPedigree had completed the pilot and was now advocating for implementation? You sound as if the service is actually available. Please let us have some clarity.

Van Der Meeren

Which leads to a the problem suggested by #4: a scammer buying a cheap legit medicine, and using the code from that to sell an expensive fake. Well, for a start the scammers costs have already gone up considerably, possibly making it not worthwhile. But if not, you could imagine the system match codes and medicine names, so the reply SMS contains the name of the drug that you supposedly bought.

It will probably push the scammers higher up the ladder, though. Even to the point where they set up their own fake SMS-drug-authentication infrastructure.

Sounds like a great system but I’d like for them to penetrate the thing and get it known. Without knowledge of the system no one even knows that the possiblity exists over here to be buying fake drugs.

That last counterfit drug article had me forwarding it on to a hundred others in two seconds. This one sounds great but if its not implemented how do we get it into the country and running? And soon?

Given the number of cell phones and scratchy codes for airtime out here this system is pretty much instinctual in its ease of use. I love the idea.

No, these are FAKE drugs that KILL people and create resistance of the pathogen, as sometimes they have a lower concentration of the active substance. Indian companies are not part of Big Pharma, as I understand the term.

You need people in the field sending the codes, and you will need feedback from them once you discover the fake boxes. It is impractical to have an army of surveyors, specially in developing countries. Without distributed sampling this system cannot work for long.

This all assumes that the whole thing is so widely used that companies are affixing fake labels though…. doesn’t it? SOL otherwise. Maybe Im misunderstanding the concept.

My biggest concern right now is how to get *all* consumers to check their drugs with the scratch-off labels, instead of just going “oh, it has a scratch-off thingy, it must be genuine”. If they don’t actually scratch and text the code, counterfeiters will just put blank scratch-offs and consumers won’t know they’ve been duped.

If you have any more questions or ideas, kindly email me at ashifi@sproxil.com or DM me @ashifi on twitter.

I am not sure I understand you. I am not a native English Speaker. And yes, I am assuming that the system relies more on end users than on distributors.