Our Commitment
Combating counterfeits requires a globally-coordinated effort of all public and private stakeholders affected. On a corporate basis and locally we actively support those initiatives by associations, law-enforcement authorities and governments. These are designed to fight the spread of counterfeit medicines.
Activities of Boehringer Ingelheim
Supply chain integrity
Control and traceability are key principles in the fight against counterfeits in the legitimate supply chain. This includes the physical control of those involved, i.e. only working with trustworthy, possibly audited and certified partners. We are also implementing serialization and track & trace solutions with machine-readable barcodes to the marketed pack. These codes will allow the authentication of the product in the pharmacy and / or the tracking of the product through the complete supply chain.
Security features
We implement product security technology to impede the production of counterfeit copies of our products and to make them distinguishable from our own products.
Rapid reporting and open communication
Detected counterfeit cases of our products are reported globally. We ensure that authorities are properly informed and decide on appropriate next steps.
Investigation and prosecution
Cross-functional teams are handling upcoming cases and regularly review the general situation on local, regional and global level. We cooperate inter alia with investigators and criminal prosecutors to prevent the sale of counterfeit products and to call persons involved to account.
Boehringer Ingelheim is in contact with customs and other stakeholders to raise awareness of counterfeited pharmaceuticals.
Additionally we take part in anti-counterfeiting task forces across industries.