Mary Murphy

There can be little argument that packaging is at the forefront of the fight against counterfeit drugs, which currently costs the industry between 6-10% of the value of pharmaceutical sales. According to IMS Health, the figure is approximately $22 billion from global pharmaceutical sales of $364 billion. To set this in context, counterfeiting of all goods costs $200-400 billion annually, claims the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group. According to the the US Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, it can take an average of $250 million and 10 years to legally develop and market a drug, but it is possible for a counterfeiter to 'reproduce' a product within a couple of months for as little as $250000.