Originally published: 2024
Updated: May 2026
Counterfeit and falsified medicines have long been a concern within the healthcare sector. The World Health Organization estimates that at least 1 in 10 medicines in low- and middle-income countries are substandard or falsified. WHO also estimates that countries spend around US$30.5 billion every year on these products, with unsafe medicines often entering the market through informal channels and online platforms.
The risk has also become more visible in recent years as demand for high-value and fast-moving medicines increases. For example, Reuters reported in 2024 that more than 250 websites selling fake versions of popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs had been reported by an anti-counterfeit firm, reflecting how quickly counterfeiters can exploit market demand and digital channels.
For pharmaceutical companies, the issue is not only about stopping fake products after they appear in the market. The stronger approach is to reduce the opportunity for counterfeits, diversion, tampering, and unauthorised movement before they happen.
That begins inside the manufacturing facility and continues across warehousing, logistics, distribution, and recall readiness.
Where Counterfeit Risk Enters the Supply Chain
Counterfeit products often take advantage of small gaps in otherwise well-managed operations. These gaps may not look serious on their own, but together they can create opportunities for fake or diverted products to enter legitimate channels.
Common areas of vulnerability include:
Packaging and labelling materials
Unused, rejected, or poorly controlled packaging materials can be misused to make counterfeit products look authentic. This is especially risky when packaging closely resembles approved commercial material.
Returned, rejected, or damaged goods
If returned or rejected products are not properly tracked, quarantined, destroyed, or documented, authentic packaging or product components can be diverted and reused.
Prototype and sample handling
Development samples, prototype packaging, and trial materials can become a blind spot if disposal and access procedures are weak.
Warehousing and loading areas
Products are often most exposed during storage, staging, loading, and handover. These areas involve people movement, vehicle movement, temporary storage, and third-party access.
Transport and last-mile distribution
Route deviations, unauthorised stops, cargo tampering, and weak chain-of-custody procedures can all create openings for theft, substitution, or diversion.
The lesson is straightforward: counterfeit prevention is not only a packaging or regulatory issue. It is also a physical security, operational control, and supply chain visibility issue.
Moving from Passive Security to Active Control
Traditional security often focuses on keeping intruders out. That remains important, but it is no longer enough for pharmaceutical environments.
Today, security needs to help answer more operational questions:
Who entered this restricted area?
Was the person authorised for that zone and time?
Did a visitor move beyond approved access?
Was a shipment loaded into the correct vehicle?
Did the vehicle leave on the approved route?
Was there unusual activity near a storage, packing, or loading area?
These questions require more than standalone cameras and access cards. They require connected systems, clear procedures, reliable monitoring, and auditable records.
This is where a multi-layered security approach becomes important.
Strengthening Access Control Around Critical Areas
Access control remains one of the most important layers in pharmaceutical security because it limits who can reach sensitive materials, restricted production areas, storage rooms, laboratories, packaging zones, and dispatch areas.
In higher-risk environments, basic card access may not be enough. Lost cards, shared credentials, and tailgating can weaken the control. More robust setups may combine card credentials, biometric verification, mobile credentials, visitor pre-registration, escorted access, and time-bound permissions.
The objective is not to make movement difficult for everyone. The objective is to make access clear, controlled, and accountable.
A strong access control setup should support:
- Authorised access by role, zone, and time
- Clear separation between employees, contractors, visitors, and outsourced workers
- Visitor identity checks and escorted movement
- Restricted access to packaging, storage, and dispatch areas
- Audit trails showing who entered, when, and where
- Exception alerts for forced doors, unauthorised access, and abnormal movement
For pharmaceutical facilities, this level of control also supports good manufacturing practice and audit readiness. Regulators and customers increasingly expect manufacturers to show not only that procedures exist, but that they are being consistently enforced.
Using Video Intelligence for Better Situational Awareness
Video surveillance has long been part of pharmaceutical facility security. The difference today is that cameras should not only record incidents for later review. They should help security and operations teams detect exceptions earlier and respond with better context.
Modern video intelligence can help identify activities such as after-hours movement, loitering near restricted areas, unauthorised entry, vehicle presence at loading bays, perimeter crossing, or movement in sensitive zones.
When connected to a central monitoring function, video becomes more useful. Instead of expecting site personnel to watch multiple screens continuously, alerts can be prioritised, verified, and escalated based on what is actually happening.
A more practical surveillance model includes:
- Event-based alerts rather than constant manual monitoring
- Live verification before escalation
- Video clips attached to incident records
- Integration with access control and intrusion alarms
- Remote support from a Central Monitoring and Command Centre
- Clear response procedures for confirmed incidents
This is especially valuable for large facilities, multi-site operations, warehouses, and after-hours environments where on-site teams may not be able to watch every area at once.
Protecting Warehousing, Loading, and Dispatch Operations
Many pharmaceutical security conversations focus heavily on manufacturing areas. Yet some of the most practical risks occur during storage and movement.
Loading bays, receiving areas, dispatch zones, and vehicle entrances should be treated as critical control points. These are the places where goods change hands, vehicles enter and exit, and documentation must match actual movement.
Technology can support stronger control through:
- Licence plate recognition for approved vehicles
- Container or vehicle ID recognition
- Camera coverage at loading and unloading points
- Access-controlled entry to storage and dispatch areas
- Video verification of shipment handover
- Integration between visitor, contractor, and vehicle access records
This helps reduce reliance on manual checks alone. It also creates a clearer record when questions arise later.
For example, if a shipment is disputed, the organisation can review who accessed the area, which vehicle entered, when goods were loaded, and whether the event matched approved procedures.
Extending Visibility Beyond the Facility
Counterfeit and diversion risks do not stop at the gate. Once products leave the facility, visibility becomes more difficult but just as important.
Tracking technologies such as RFID, GPS tracking, geofencing, and route monitoring can help companies maintain better oversight over product movement. For manufacturers and distributors, the key is to connect physical security with supply chain tracking. A GPS alert is useful. A video-verified GPS alert, linked to a known vehicle, approved driver, route plan, and dispatch record, is much stronger.
Effective supply chain visibility may include:
- Serialisation and product-level identification
- Tamper-evident packaging
- RFID or barcode scanning at key checkpoints
- GPS tracking for transport vehicles
- Geofencing around warehouses, distribution centres, and approved rest stops
- Alerts for route deviation, unauthorised stops, or unexpected delays
- Centralised monitoring for faster investigation
The goal is not to create more data for the sake of data. The goal is to create a reliable chain of evidence from manufacturing to delivery.
Why Centralised Monitoring Matters
Security systems are only useful when alerts are acted on quickly and consistently. In many organisations, the challenge is not a lack of cameras, sensors, or access control devices. The challenge is fragmented visibility.
A Central Monitoring and Command Centre can help bring different signals together. When access control, video surveillance, intrusion alarms, vehicle tracking, and incident workflows are monitored through a structured process, teams can make faster and better-informed decisions.
For pharmaceutical operations, this can support:
- 24/7 monitoring across critical areas
- Remote verification of alarms and suspicious activity
- Faster escalation to on-site teams or response personnel
- Standardised incident handling
- Clear reporting and audit trails
- Support for multi-site governance
This is important because counterfeit prevention depends on consistency. A strong process should not rely only on whether the right person happens to be watching at the right time.
Regular Audits Keep the System Honest
Even the best security design will weaken over time if it is not tested. People change roles. Contractors rotate. Access rights become outdated. Cameras get blocked. Procedures become routine. Small exceptions become accepted.
Regular audits and inspections help keep the system aligned with actual risk.
Useful audit practices include:
- Reviewing access rights by role and department
- Checking visitor and contractor access records
- Testing alarm response procedures
- Reviewing video coverage at critical areas
- Inspecting rejected, returned, and obsolete packaging controls
- Validating vehicle access and dispatch records
- Conducting surprise checks at loading, storage, and restricted zones
- Reviewing incident reports for recurring patterns
Audits should not be treated as a box-ticking exercise. They are a practical way to find weak points before counterfeiters, thieves, or internal bad actors find them first.
Building a Stronger Defence Against Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals
Counterfeit medicine prevention requires more than one solution. Packaging security, serialisation, access control, surveillance, vehicle tracking, monitoring, and audits all play different roles.
The strongest defence comes when these layers work together.
For pharmaceutical manufacturers, the priority should be to build a security model that protects critical areas, controls movement, verifies exceptions, and creates reliable records across the full supply chain.
This is not only about preventing loss. It is about protecting patients, preserving product integrity, supporting compliance, and maintaining trust in the medicines people depend on.
In today’s market, trust is part of the product. And for the pharmaceutical industry, that trust must be protected from the production floor to the patient.