Fake drugs testing system for patients using internet

A new IT-based traceability service has been launched to let patients check the authenticity of their medicines over the internet.

The eTACT service is part of the Council of Europe’s global strategy to counter fake drugs, launched by its European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and Healthcare.

Patients can use the service via smartphones or the internet, and it is open to the 36 member states of the European Pharmacopoeia Commission and beyond. The Council of Europe says eTACT will make provide a secure, inter-operable, efficient, cost-effective and flexible traceability service to protect public health.

Consultations, technical workshops and a series of webinars for the relevant European authorities and patient organisations are to be organised in the coming months to help users understand the project, and to gather ideas to create an optimum traceability environment for medicines.

For more information visit http://www.coe.int/lportal/en/web/coe-portal/etact-programme