Qinetiq wins hosting deal for drug authentication service

Contract will help Aegate to improve security of sensitive information

Aegate, the company behind a new initiative to improve drug authentication, has signed a hosting deal for the technology supporting the project.

The Aegate system will improve patient safety and provide pharmaceutical companies with a means of protecting their brands.

The authentication service protects industry, pharmacists and patients from out-of-date, discontinued, recalled, counterfeit or stolen medicines. The service has been fully tested in pilots in the UK and the USA and will be launched in Europe next month.

The three year secure hosting contract with supplier QinetiQ is worth £1.6m, and will protect sensitive information associated with the authentication process.

'Placing the secure hosting contract was an important strategic decision and QinetiQ were selected for their breadth of security experience, both in secure government and in the private sector,' said Richard French, Aegate's commercial director.

Aegate provides drug manufacturers, pharmacists and their patients with a real time communication system that operates at individual item level. Each pack of medicine is given a unique machine-readable identification number, known as unique serialisation. Using one of a number of technologies, including RFID and one- or two-dimensional barcodes, items are scanned as they are dispensed.

The system allows the pharmacist to check expiry dates and recall information, and provide updated patient care advice. This ensures pharmacists receive product safety information more rapidly.

The system also allows the authentication of the origins of medicines, protecting against stolen and fake drugs. Patient safety is an increasingly important issue and counterfeit drug sales are forecast to reach $75bn globally by 2010 if action is not taken.

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