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Drugs counterfeiting: Zetes helps manufacturers comply with incoming regulations and help RFID European resellers

•          Zetes extends its portfolio with a solution that helps combat counterfeiting

•          Turnkey solution for accurate Datamatrix marking, control  and serialisation on high speed production lines

•          Flexible approach, integration into existing lines or new installations

- Zetes, announces that is has extended its offering for the pharmaceutical sector with a Datamatrix marking, control and serialisation solution.

The solution will help drug manufacturers across Europe comply with new and incoming legislation regarding the identification of secondary packaging of medical goods. 

As the counterfeiting of medicinal products is an increasing threat to public health and safety, the EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) is working on an end-to-end product verification system, based on mass serialisation. By identifying each individual product, the industry aims to combat counterfeiting, reduce theft and derivations, and thus ensure improved patient safety.

Some countries, such as France and Turkey, have already started to transcribe the EFPIA recommendation into national legislation. This means that businesses operating commercially in those countries must be fully compliant. Building on its extensive knowledge in the printing and print & apply arenas, Zetes has developed a solution that is fully tailored to this specific needs of the pharmaceutical sector.

Datamatrix marking and serialisation at high speed production lines

The recommendations of EFPIA involve the application of a Datamatrix barcode that incorporates specific information regarding the medical product (lot number, product code, expiry date and possible serialisation code).

Zetes’ Datamatrix marking and serialisation solution ensures the accurate affixing of Datamatrix codes, either directly on the package (coding or marking) or via real-time printed labels. The solution also handles serialisation (i.e. affixing a unique, random code on each product), tamper evident sealing, and labeling with preprinted labels. It has been designed to integrate with high speed production lines, ensuring secure marking, inspection and storage of data of up to 500 packs per minute. 

Alain Wirtz,,CEO of Zetes says: “Improving traceability is an increasing challenge for many manufacturers. Our solution has been developed based upon our extensive experience with designing, building and implementing print & apply and labeling systems, which are already used by many drug manufacturers at the end of their production lines. Our Datamatrix identification and serialisation solution allows them to ensure data aggregation right along their production lines, from individual package to pallet.”

The Zetes solution is already implemented at a major drug manufacturer in France, where Datamatrix identification becomes mandatory as of January 2011.