Anti-Counterfeit Tags to be Placed on Viagra Packages
Pfizer risks a tough competition with the counterfeit Viagra pills produced by the bogus pharmacies. Now in an effort to make its customers believe only on the authentic Pfizer's Viagra, the pharmaceutical giant has thought of a new method to segregate its authentic products from the fake ones.
Viagra manufacturers have found a unique way to thwart the circulation of the counterfeit drugs and to safeguard its own product it has included special radio frequency identification tags on all packages of its anti-impotence pill to verify they are the authentic Pfizer product. Pfizer has previously also opposed illegal imports of authentic Viagra into the United States , where they can be sold at steeply discounted rates, but said the new technology is not designed to block such imports.
Pfizer Spokesman Haskins said that the tiny tags are small computer chips that have been affixed to the underside of labels on each bottle of Viagra, as well as on cases and pallets of the drug. The invisible tags relay an electronic code that verifies the product is bona fide and authorized Viagra.
Although the technology can physically scan packages of Viagra and thereby authenticate them, Pfizer said it cannot yet "track and trace" the whereabouts of packages as they are distributed across the United States .
Source: reuters.co.uk, January 6, 2006 |
