Evaluation of the type and structure of the imprints used on the surface of medicines

Abstract

Background: Drug imprints on the surfaces of medicines could be used as accessible and economic anti-counterfeiting measures. Aims: to identify and study the structure of different types of imprints, and discuss potential problems related to their structure/format. Method: 531 Portuguese package leaflets (PLs) were manually inspected to confirm and collect the description of the imprints. The number of letters, symbols or mixtures of both was quantified in each imprint. An electronic tool was used to evaluate the linguistic characteristics. Results: Only 7.9% of 531 PLs described imprints. 55 imprints were identified: 23 (41.8%) only formed by letters and 32 (58.2%) formed by letters, numbers or symbols. It was possible to identify 171 words. Conclusion: It seems, that the imprints were not systematically used as anti-counterfeiting measures. Experimental studies and the updating of the pharmaceutical regulation on the suitability and specificities of these imprints are recommended.