Pharmaceutical Technology Europe - March 2012 - (Page 12)

COLUMN CRUNCH Stepping up the fight against counterfeits Nathan Jessop Criminal gangs are attracted to pharmaceuticals because of the high value of medicines and the relatively low risk of prosecution; as the counterfeiting business operates on an international scale, it is difficult to tackle the source of the problem and apprehend the parties involved. Counterfeiting has traditionally been most prevalent in regions where the regulatory and enforcement systems for medicines are at their weakest. However, the supply chains of industrialised regions are now under threat. This has led to renewed efforts to tackle counterfeiting. Much hope has been placed in Europe’s Falsified Medicines Directive, which will come into force in January 2013 and increase controls across the EU. The industry has also been working on other initiatives. In January 2012, a number of organisations called for practical and cost-effective solutions to implement the requirements of the EU’s Falsified Medicines Directive. Another major development is the MEDICRIME Convention launched by the Council of Europe. In December 2011, members signed up to binding international legal agreements to combat counterfeiting. Full column PharmTech.com/IndustryInsider0312 CMOs face a Kodak moment Jim Miller Unless CMOs become more forward looking about their technology choices and investments, they risk losing out to new entrants and potential clients. Because they are smaller and more self-contained, more companies will be tempted to build their own facilities. Because they will operate more-or-less continuously and be highly automated, they will produce drugs less expensively than older technologies. Today, however, the competitive challenges that CMOs seem most focused on are how to differentiate themselves from their many Western competitors. This scenario bears a strong resemblance to what happened to Kodak, which recently filed for bankruptcy protection in the US. Because it was focused on preserving its cash cow--the film and photo processing business-the company viewed its primary competitive threats as coming from Fujifilm and other low-cost film manufacturers. As a result, however, it overlooked the emergence of digital photography, the new technology that ultimately undermined the company. CMOs could now be facing their Kodak moment. Full column PharmTech.com/OutsourcingReview0312 2 SPECIAL FEATURE 11 PARAMETRIC RELEASE 7 REDUNDANT FILTRATION 12 COLUMN CRUNCH 8 NEWS BITES 13 PEER REVIEW 9 BLOG 14 TOP TECH http://www.PharmTech.com/OutsourcingReview0312 http://www.PharmTech.com/IndustryInsider0312

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Technology Europe - March 2012

Pharmaceutical Technology Europe - March 2012
Contents
Innovations, drivers and trends in adjuvant filtration
Focus: Redundant filtration
News Bites
Blogs Abridged
Interview: Parametric release and real-time release testing
Column Crunch: Counterfeits and outsourcing trends
Evaluating drug impurities
Top Tech

Pharmaceutical Technology Europe - March 2012