At the upcoming trade fair Interpack 2014 in Düsseldorf, Germany, you will become familiar with new trends in drug packaging. The fight against fake drugs with he help of packaging technologies will be one of the most important topics. In the coming years, we can expect a rapid growth in demand for identification solutions of pharmaceutical products. SecurPharm, an umbrella organization of five drug distributor associations, has announced its intent to establish a system based on data matrix codes. Each package should be made unique by including a square data matrix code which contains a unique number. All of the numbers are stored in a common manufacturers’ database. Later, in the pharmacy, the package is scanned immediately prior to dispensing it to the patient. The checking
only takes a few seconds so that counterfeit products can be quickly identified.