Packaging
Traceability and anti-counterfeit on glass : a laser coding system allows invisible and tamper-proof identification
Tuesday 06. May 2008 - Seidenader Vision and Frewitt Printing present their new laser coding and code verification system LC-S at the Interpack 2008.
Frewitt Printing, the specialist of marking solutions in the Frewitt Group, and Seidenader Vision, the expert of vision systems in the Seidenader Group, are cooperating for the presentation of a unique Laser Coding and Code Verification System.
Frewitt has developed a laser marking system using a low energy laser to engrave a Data Matrix code directly on the glass containers. Seidenader provides the high speed vision system and illumination technique to verify this type of code reliably.
This method allows a 100% traceability of products and is a unique type of coding for combating counterfeit drugs. With a capacity of up to 600 syringe/min, a precise, fast, reliable and revolutionary technology has been developed for the pharmaceutical industry.
The Laser Coding System offers an effective solution for permanently applying most any code. Some of the benefits include:
? difficult to copy
? tamper-proof
? clean and crisp appearance
? easy to read and verify
? holds even on siliconized surfaces
? withstands sterilization and freeze-drying
? 2D matrix or human readable codes even
at very high speeds
With regard to product and quality assurance, but especially in the fight against product piracy, the pharmaceutical industry is facing new demands on identification and follow-up of the entire production process. A laser engraving a quasi-invisible millimetric-size on the glass packaging will fulfill the coming regulations of the licensing authorities and increase user safety.
The user of a drug, whether a medical specialist or patient, wants to be able to see reliable information about action and quality. Up to now, this can be identified and read on package inserts, batch numbers with a manufacturing and expiry date, and by means of bar codes.
Up to this point, in practice this offered a quite high protection against misapplication. The massive increase in medicine counterfeiting and the infringement of industrial property rights associated therewith require, however, new possibilities of protection and safety within quality control, from the manufacturing process up to the user. Product piracy damages not only the pharmaceutical industry, it also has an adverse effect on the health of people worldwide.
Within the pharmaceutical industry, internal inspection procedures devised to avoid manipulation errors are amongst the highest in the world. However, human error is always possible.
The concept of the individual identification of mass products (“mass serialization”) makes possible the follow-up of the production and trade routes for each individual dose, whether syringe, vial or ampule. Frewitt Printing proposes a solution which enables the unique identification of each container together with automatic 100% rereading of the containers throughout the production line.
In future, the proof of authenticity of a medicine will be made a duty by means of certified original manufacturer data on the part of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the EMEA (European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products). The pharmaceutical industry must therefore make investments in novel marking systems which bring it financial and marketing advantages. A counterfeit-proof marking will serve for safety in the whole market launch process, creation of confidence and the avoidance of possibly life-threatening occurrences or counterfeiting.