Advanco and INEXTO forge track-and-trace partnership to combat counterfeiting
In a major step forward in the ongoing battle against fake goods – some of which include counterfeit medicines that harm thousands of consumers each year – two of the world’s leading companies specialised in the fields of serialisation and track-and-trace have joined together in a strategic partnership: advanco and INEXTO.
Advanco specialises in providing highly-regulated, compliance-driven serialisation solutions to the pharma sector.
INEXTO provides a full range of B2B, B2C, and B2G software solutions and services for L1-L5 requirements and regulatory compliance, delivering its digital authentication, ultra-high-speed serialisation (e.g., direct printing, labelling) and end-to-end track-and-trace solutions to diverse sectors, including beer/beverage, food, automotive, textile, and tobacco.
This strategic partnership will deliver its full spectrum of cutting-edge technologies that meet current and imminent requirements across multiple sectors.
The track-and-trace of serialised goods, whereby each individual product is given a unique identification code (UID), allows for each UID to be tracked along its respective supply-chain. The ability to track & trace each item, from its manufacturing origin to its final destination, gives both economic actors and each consumer the trust and positive assurance of that genuine product’s provenance.
Track-and-trace is a process that is widely seen as an essential weapon against illicit trade by illegitimate actors who produce potentially harmful products for unsuspecting consumers of medicines, food, etc. It is also an important deterrent against those who make counterfeit products designed to steal from the legitimate market (e.g., brand owners) and its consumers.
Alf Goebel, CEO, advanco, said: “The issue of counterfeit drugs is already a major issue, with some 10% of pharma products worldwide estimated to be counterfeit, resulting in up to one million deaths each year. Therefore, serialisation track-and-trace, certainly in the pharmaceutical sector, is an essential tool to protect everyone in the value-chain against falsified and dangerous medicine.
“This trend is expected to increasingly permeate across multiple other industries, with governments looking to make it a lot harder for counterfeiters to produce anything that could cause physical harm or cost people substantial sums of money.”
Philippe Chatelain, CEO, INEXTO, said: “advanco and INEXTO are delivering proven technologies through this strategic partnership; both in their respective track-and-trace and fully digital authentication solutions.
“Together, this will result in sophisticated solution sets that can be applied across a variety of sectors looking to both effectively and compliantly combat illicit trade.
“This is key for consumers, who increasingly demand from brand owners the trust and transparency from the goods that they purchase. It is also good news for governments, who face an increased duty of care in both protecting consumers and the legitimate market from the ravages of illicit-trade.”
The partnership emphasises the global reach of both companies, with advanco having its offices in London, Brussels, Istanbul and San Francisco; and INEXTO having its offices in Medellin (Colombia), Krakow (Poland), Shanghai (China), Singapore, and Lausanne -HQ (Switserland).
View the original article here.