Pharmaceuticals
Rapid identification of counterfeit pharmaceuticals is critical to ensure patient safety.
The Pharmaceutical Counterfeiting Problem
Counterfeit pharmaceuticals represent a violation of intellectual property rights and a serious public health risk. The World Heath Organization (WHO) estimates that roughly 10 percent of the worlds pharmaceuticals may be counterfeit or substandard, with some regions of the developing world with far higher rates. Even in Europe and the United States, counterfeit drugs are increasingly entering the supply chain, particularly via internet sales. These drugs at best will not deliver the therapy they promise and at worst can endanger patients lives. Thousands of people, many of them young children, have lost their lives because they failed to receive needed treatment when they unknowingly took counterfeit drugs.
Efforts to combat counterfeit pharmaceuticals to date have largely focused on making the product packaging difficult to copy. However, in many places, drugs are not sold in their original packaging, and counterfeiters have become very adept at imitating even the most sophisticated packaging. One of the most promising approaches to removing counterfeit drugs from the market is authenticating the dosage form of the medication itself to confirm its chemical composition.
Register to download "TruScan for Anti-Counterfeiting", a presentation given at the WHO Int'l Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT) meeting in Singapore, February 13 15 2008.
Raman Spectroscopy for Pharmaceutical Anti-Counterfeiting Analysis
What is Raman Spectroscopy?
Raman spectroscopy is an analytical technique that uses the the interaction of light and molecular bonds to characterize individual chemicals. Different types of bonds are identified as peaks of varying intensity in a resulting spectrum, creating a unique fingerprint for each compound. The spectrum of an unknown or suspect compound can be compared to that of a known sample in order to confirm authenticity.
Until recently, Raman spectrometers were large, bulky instruments requiring a great deal of advanced education and training to operate and interpret results. New handheld spectrometers like TruScan are bringing the power of Raman directly to the field.
Register to download the "Introduction to Raman Spectroscopy" application note and other materials.
Thermo Scientific TruScan allows users without extensive chemistry training to perform highly reliable analyses to authenticate medication directly in the field, wherever pharmaceuticals are found in the market.
Using Raman spectroscopy, TruScan® examines the chemical composition of all components of a pharmaceutical dosage APIs, excipients, fillers, dyes, coatings to create a unique spectrum or chemical fingerprint representing the specific authentic material. Any slight deviation from the original formulation will lead to a detectable change in the measured spectrum, making TruScan an ideal tool for rapid detection of counterfeit pharmaceuticals in the field.
Designed for Field Use
TruScan is rugged and lightweight, making it ideal for use in even the most harsh field conditions. Instruments can be administered via the internet, allowing field staff to easily upload new authentic references or to download reports to a secure central server as needed.
Accurate
TruScan compares the spectrum of a sample in question with an authentic reference and provides reliable Pass or Fail results within seconds. The majority of all drugs can readily be analyzed with TruScan with extremely high accuracy.
Cost-Effective
TruScan replaces costly tests typically conducted in the laboratory by trained chemists with a tool easy enough for anyone to use with minimal training. It enables a far greater number of tests to be conducted at a fraction of the cost as there are no consumables.
Visit the TruScan for Anti-Counterfeiting product page for more information, or e-mail us at anti-counterfeit@thermofisher.com.
TruScan enables users to confirm the authenticity of pharmaceuticals directly through sealed packaging such as blister packs.