According to the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 30% of drugs sold in developing nations are branded drugs which are counterfeited. What was once confined to exotic and costly pills has now proliferated to cough syrups, vitamins supplements, painkillers and the like. India being the largest supplier of generic drugs and yet a price-sensitive market, serves as a breeding ground for cheap imitations. The network behind this activity thrives on the Indian consumer's ignorance, appetite for branded goods and their innate nature to bargain.

Counterfeiting causes huge losses to the state which loses out on revenue by way of taxes on goods. A FICCI survey estimated the loss of the Indian exchequer by way of taxes to be roughly around Rs. 1,000 crore every year. On the human side, every year many lives are lost to counterfeit drugs and medicines. A report in the Washington Post suggests that an estimated 12 to 25% of all drugs sold within India are thought to be counterfeiting of products continues to be a bane to the Indian economy while also inflicting serious damage on its reputation globally.

Thus, companies today need to pay special attention to brand security and authentication when designing new products. This can be done by ensuring product and packaging differentiation.

Merck India's Performance Materials Division, helps manufaturers with brand protection concepts and security solutions thereby reducing health hazards and also increasing safety of consumers. These customised solutions include:

Overt Solutions: The visible visual effect of interference or colour changing pigments that helps the consumer distinguish between genuine and imitation packaging without the use of a verification device.

Covert Solutions: Decorative or security pigments combined with additives which are recognizable only with technical means. Examples include taggants that become visible in infrared light.

Forensic Solutions: Product protection of higher risk value products helps to prevent terrorism, forgery and lawsuits. Merck's decorative and security pigments can be combined with special additives that can only be consistently identified and authenticated via high-tech analytical methods.

There are two products from Merck's sizeable portfolio, which are used in offering customised anti-counterfeiting  solutions:

Securalic security concepts help in making counterfeiting of consumer and industrial goods next to impossible with conventional tools and methods. They can be easily integrated into an existing product design and cost- efficiently incorporated into an establish fabrication procedure for printing and plastic manufacturing.

Candurin is a pearl effect pigment especially for the pharmaceutical industry in India. Following a sophisticated manufacturing process, these colorants are coated on thin, natural and semi-transparent silicate platelets. This new physical structure give rise to the unique optical properties that are innovative and eye-catching.

Merck can create, for every brand protection programme an individual security solution whose specific elements are revealed only to the respective manufacturer. Commenting on this, Mr. Siddhartha Sengupat, Regional Sales Director Asia (Decoratives) nsaid, "Defending your brand's equity assumes greater prominence in today's day and age. Anti-counterfeiting solutions not only guard a brand but also protect the financial health of the business. Merck recongnizes this and offers customized solutions across verticals that aid unique identification and product differentiation. We believe that rather than being a victim of piracy, you could be part of the solution."