Domino Printing Sciences partners with Aegate for EU false medicines directive
By Canadian Packaging Staff
Design & Innovation Food Safety Coding & Labeling Aegate Domino Printing SciencesWith new legislation set to come in by 2018 regarding the EU FMD, Domino and Aegate collaborate to provide top-level consultancy to pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Coding and marking specialist Domino Printing Sciences has signed an agreement with Aegate to tackle the problems of package marking.
The two companies will work together to resolve some of the authentication coding challenges created by the European Union Falsified Medicines Directive (EU FMD) and the Delegated Acts.
With the EU calling, by 2018, for the serialization of every single pack or bottle of medicines, the two companies will work together to resolve some of the most pressing coding authentication problems.
This is not just a EU problem, but a global issue, with countries joining the fight against international counterfeiting and the dangers caused by dispensing errors.
Time is critically short for drug companies to act. It is a €5-billion (Cdn $7-billion) problem for the industry with more than 12,000 packaging lines needing to change, at an average cost of €500,000 (Cdn $700,000), before 2018.
Aegate is an expert in medicine verification, having checked more than three-billion packs of medicine in real time since 2007 across the world. Today, it will check another three-million medicine codes at 15,000 active dispensing units.
Its work with Domino will ensure the process of medicine authentication is speedy, reliable and user friendly. Domino is a leading supplier of coding and marking equipment to the life science industry and its specialist in-house teams are dedicated to tackling the issues caused by the pack validation.
Craig Stobie, global life sciences sector manager at Domino, says: “Our partnership with Aegate adds a whole new level of expertise to our existing team. Pack serialization and ultimately legislative compliance will not be found in an ‘off-the-shelf’ solution and will have to come from a number of suppliers. Our relationship with Aegate reinforces our top-line consultancy to help packaging companies find a ready solution for their needs.”
Aegate has worked with multi-national pharmaceutical companies for a number of years and has set the messaging standard for intercepting recalled, suspicious, expired and falsified medicines at the point of dispensing. Its rapid verification process means there is no change to the speed of dispensing or the working habits of pharmacists.
Graham Smith, commercial director for Aegate adds, “I’m delighted to have signed this agreement with Domino. The Falsified Medicines Directive and the Delegated Acts will require a fundamental change in the way that medicines are identified and verified across Europe.
“The combination of Domino’s printing expertise and Aegate’s medicine verification experience will ensure that pharmaceutical companies, wholesalers and pharmacists can benefit from the deep knowledge gained by the two industry leaders in their field.
“With only a short time to go before the implementation of the EU FMD and the Delegated Acts, companies need to act now to ensure they will make the necessary changes in time. Working with Domino and Aegate together puts them on the right track to make this happen.”
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