Discover your next big idea at PACK EXPO Las Vegas this September
Experience a breakthrough in packaging & processing and transform your business with solutions from 2,300 suppliers spanning all industries.
REGISTER NOW & SAVE

$200 Billion Pharma Counterfeit Drug Market Growing by 20% Per Year

This alarming growth is twice the rate of the legitimate pharmaceutical market, and accounts for 2.5% of the total global pharma market.

Pharma Counterfeit Drug Market Growing by 20% Per Year
Pharma Counterfeit Drug Market Growing by 20% Per Year

According to the 2019 PMMI Business Intelligence White Paper “Senior-Friendly Healthcare Packaging,as many as 19 million Americans purchase medication outside of the secure supply chain, mostly from the approximately 50,000 global online pharmacies. And a comprehensive study of 11,700 online pharmacies accessible to U.S. customers found that 95% failed to fully comply with laws and industry standards to protect patients.

“With the onset of e-commerce our business has been affected with falsified and unethical drugs being sold on the internet,” said one director of packaging at a generic drug manufacturer.

Many producers and distributors are actively seeking to gain greater visibility over their supply chain operations in order to deter counterfeiting,  and all companies interviewed for the white paper that are required to implement serialization are doing so, along with a combination of microtext, barcodes, QR codes, hidden images, covert labeling, or Bluetooth technologies.

The same technology and sensors used to monitor variables such as environmental state, factory seal integrity, and dosage compliance tracking can be simultaneously utilized by producers and distributors to trace products from production to delivery. RFID and NFC enabled packaging can monitor this movement in real time, allowing for quick alerts should a shipment be diverted or tampered with. In this way manufacturers, distributors, and even minor supply chain partners can be assured that they are dealing in authentic products that can be readily verified.

Coding, Marking, and Labeling Innovations Report
Explore our editor-curated report featuring cutting-edge coding, labeling, and RFID innovations from PACK EXPO 2024. Discover high-speed digital printing, sustainable label materials, automated labeling systems, and advanced traceability solutions that are transforming packaging operations across industries.
Access Report
Coding, Marking, and Labeling Innovations Report
Annual Outlook Report: Sustainability
The road ahead for CPGs in 2025 and beyond—<i>Packaging World</i> editors review key findings from a survey of 88 brand owners, CPG, and FMCG readers.
Download Now
Annual Outlook Report: Sustainability