Bright Simmons
A new mobile technology, which will use mobile SMS texts to identify the authenticity of drugs manufactured in the country, has been launched on a pilot basis.
Championed by mPedigree Network, a member of the Ashoka Globalizer and the World Economic Forum communities, the new technology is a globally pioneered system for preventing criminals or terrorists from successfully penetrating the legitimate supply chain of medicines.
The mPedigree goldkeys technology provides pharmaceutical companies with cloud computing based tools, developed jointly with U.S computing leader Hewlett Packard, to mark each package of medicine with a unique code and hide it from plain view with a scratch-off strip.
It will help consumers to reveal a code on the drug by removing the strip and then text-messaging it to a universal code in a number of African countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
Immediately consumers will receive a response on their phones within an average of 20 seconds to confirm the originality of the pharmaceutical and provide essential information about the drug such as true expiry date and batch number. The text message according to mPedigree is free.
Tood Brethauer, TSWG Science Advisor said, “The growing number of telecom partners supporting the project has increased the need to strengthen the network coordination layers of the technology platform.”
Selorm Branttie, mPedigree network’s Country Strategist, on his part said, “While our project offers legitimate pharmaceutical companies means to strengthen the brand protection systems, thereby securing innovations and investments, its importance goes beyond brand protection and contributes to public health, safety and consumer protection.
The partnership involves a nine-month research and development contract provided by the US government, top mPedigree Network through the Inter-Agency Technical Support Group.
By Charles Nixon Yeboah