Innovative Strategy for Counterfeit Analysis

Currently, counterfeit medicine is a significant issue for the pharmaceutical world, and it targets all types of therapeutic areas. The health consequences are appalling, since counterfeit medicines can contain impurities and the wrong chemical composition, and can be manufactured and/or stored in dreadful conditions. The provision of fast and reliable analytical tools can contribute to an efficient fight against this phenomenon. In this paper, an analytical strategy based on mobile and forensic laboratories is presented. The mobile equipment, composed of handheld x-ray fluorescence, Raman, infrared, and near-infrared spectrometers, and a handheld microscope, can be used as a first screening tool to detect counterfeits. The counterfeits can then be confirmed in a forensic-dedicated lab in which the chemical composition of the counterfeits is determined to evaluate the danger encountered by the patients. Relevant links with former counterfeit cases then can be revealed based on the analytical data, and can be interpreted from a forensic intelligence perspective in order to provide additional information for law enforcement.

[1]  Pierre Margot,et al.  Forensic intelligence for medicine anti-counterfeiting. , 2015, Forensic science international.

[2]  M. Mckee,et al.  Organised crime and the efforts to combat it: a concern for public health , 2010, Globalization and health.

[3]  Ulrike Holzgrabe,et al.  Analytical challenges in drug counterfeiting and falsification-The NMR approach. , 2011, Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis.

[4]  Vishal Sharma,et al.  Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics for the characterization and discrimination of writing/photocopier paper types: Application in forensic document examinations. , 2017, Spectrochimica acta. Part A, Molecular and biomolecular spectroscopy.

[5]  S. Neuberger,et al.  Determination of counterfeit medicines by Raman spectroscopy: Systematic study based on a large set of model tablets. , 2015, Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis.

[6]  D. Stallknecht.  FACT SHEET , 2006 .

[7]  C. Champod,et al.  The classification and discrimination of glass fragments using non destructive energy dispersive X-ray microfluorescence. , 2003, Forensic science international.

[8]  E. Deconinck,et al.  A validated GC-MS method for the determination and quantification of residual solvents in counterfeit tablets and capsules. , 2012, Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis.

[9]  M. Daszykowski,et al.  Chromatographic impurity fingerprinting of genuine and counterfeit Cialis® as a means to compare the discriminating ability of PDA and MS detection. , 2016, Talanta.

[10]  Yves Roggo,et al.  Performance of NIR handheld spectrometers for the detection of counterfeit tablets. , 2017, Talanta.

[11]  Guilong Cheng,et al.  Rapid identification and absence of drug tests for AG-013736 in 1mg Axitinib tablets by ion mobility spectrometry and DART™ mass spectrometry. , 2011, Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis.

[12]  Anna Vila,et al.  Chemical composition of contemporary black printing inks based on infrared spectroscopy: basic information for the characterization and discrimination of artistic prints. , 2007, Analytica chimica acta.

[13]  Mário A. T. Figueiredo,et al.  Near-infrared hyperspectral unmixing based on a minimum volume criterion for fast and accurate chemometric characterization of counterfeit tablets. , 2010, Analytical chemistry.

[14]  V. Ciobotă,et al.  Detection of counterfeit stevia products using a handheld Raman spectrometer , 2016 .

[15]  Lynne S. Taylor,et al.  Analysis of the packaging enclosing a counterfeit pharmaceutical tablet using Raman microscopy and two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy , 2012 .

[16]  I. Soto,et al.  Analytical information on the composition of Roman Glass from Braga (Portugal) , 2013 .

[17]  E. Deconinck,et al.  Analysis of illegal peptide biopharmaceuticals frequently encountered by controlling agencies. , 2015, Talanta.

[18]  Yves Roggo,et al.  Comprehensive Study of a Handheld Raman Spectrometer for the Analysis of Counterfeits of Solid-Dosage Form Medicines , 2017 .