New data has revealed that speciality security printer Eltronis has successfully aided the resurgence of two pharmaceutical brands that saw massive falls in sales due to Russian counterfeiters. Pharma companies Biotehnos and Rompharm, both based in Romania, had seen significant declines in sales of their Alflutop and Rumalon brands in Russia.

On investigation, it became apparent that the success of both brands had made them a lucrative target for counterfeiters, to the extent that almost half of the branded drugs in the Russian market were showing as fake.

Not only did these counterfeits impact on sales by replacing genuine products with those of unknown quality, the high percentage of fakes meant that doctors had lost confidence in the brands and stopped prescribing them, causing patients to suffer.

Following discussions with Eltronis, holographic labels were recommended for both brands to help protect them from the counterfeiters. Importantly, the solutions also focused on re-building brand confidence among medical professionals.

Not only did holographic labels counter the decreases seen in sales but, as doctors once again felt confident in prescribing these medicines, patients were able to benefit from receiving the best treatment for their illnesses. Eltronis designed and manufactured a security label with a hot-stamp hologram for Alflutop to use on both its ampoules and branded cartons. The sophisticated design used a combination of high quality overt and covert embossed security features. This, combined with Eltronis’ advanced adhesive technology, which allows the label to be applied to both the ampoule and its packaging, created an effective security solution that was virtually impossible to counterfeit and provided quick and easy authentication of genuine Alflutop products.

Rompharm chose a demetallised hologram label for Rumalon across both its ampoule and carton packaging. This integrated the latest holographic security techniques, including a 3D glass relief, and was rolled out across the portfolio.

The high-quality security holograms gave an immediate means of verification for both brands and campaigns were undertaken to ensure doctors were clear on what features to look for and to help identify any fakes.

Within a year, confidence increased significantly amongst medical professionals, and the latest data has shown that sales volumes have now recovered to previous levels.

To date, millions of units of both pharmaceuticals have been protected through using our security labels. We knew how important it was to provide a solution to make counterfeiting much more difficult and enable medical staff to immediately identify genuine medicines. Both brands are now trusted by medics in Russia and patients are once again benefitting from their prescription and use in the treatment of their illnesses.


About the author: Pete Smallwood is Business Development Manager for Eltronis.