GREENLIFE USE ANTI-COUNTERFEITING TECHNOLOGY TO SPREAD MALARIA INFORMATION
Nigerian pharmaceutical firm, Greenlife Pharmaceutical Limited has hailed the Mobile Authentication Service (MAS), saying it has helped it lift its flagship product above counterfeiters since it was adopted. As a way of making the best of the services, the company has also informed that the public could get health information about malaria and the products from additional information provided in the confirmation Short Messages.
The company's Chairman, Dr. Obiora Chukwuka, said, it is in a bid to protect their brand and safeguard the health of its numerous consumers of its flag-ship antimalarial brand LONART DS, Greenlife Pharmaceuticals Ltd a leading pharmaceutical company last September signed on to the drug anti-counterfeiting solution called Mobile Authentication Service (MAS). The technology enables the consumer to authenticate the originality of the drug in his/her hand at the point of purchase. A scratch card is attached to the inner pack of the drug. By simply scratching the panel a unique set of numbers can be seen. The consumer sends these numbers to a short code 38353, instantly he/she receives an SMS confirming the authenticity or otherwise of the Lonart DS drug in his/her hand.
This service was initially introduced into the country by a strategic partnership between NAFDAC and an American based ICT company called Sproxil Inc., in a bid to tackle the menace of counterfeit medicines.
'With NAFDAC's latest directive that all registered ACTs in the country must sign on to the MAS portal, medicine consumers will benefit from Greenlife's early initiative as they are rest assured of authenticity when using our ACT brand , Lonart DS,' Chukwuka said.
Meanwhile, Chukwuka has advised consumers to always scratch and confirm the authenticity of the Lonart DS in their hands at the point of purchase, beyond protecting their health and that of their loved ones the cost of sending the SMS is pro bono as the company being a good corporate citizen has already defrayed the cost.
He said the consumer may also access health tips about malaria and the brand through the numbers displayed in the SMS, noting, however, that the SMS are free but that the calls attract regular charges.