Counterfeiting in the pharma sector has become alarmingly widespread, creating the potential for public confidence in healthcare systems to be eroded, economic impacts on pharma organisations and serious outcomes for patient safety. A recent WHO report estimated that 10% of medicines in lower-income countries[1] are either below-par or falsified, with regional rates reaching 13.7% in the Asia-Pacific[2].

Counterfeiting practices have also become significantly more evolved in recent years, requiring a multi-layered approach to prevent sophisticated fakes from reaching patients. As a result, there has been a drive to implement anti-counterfeiting measures in the packaging of pharmaceutical products, providing a line of defence against patient harm and treatment failures. This means enabling product authentication throughout the supply chain, encompassing manufacture, distribution and ultimately, the end user.

The scale of counterfeit medications in the Asia-Pacific

The pharma counterfeiting problem in the Asia-Pacific is the result of a number of converging factors. With little oversight governing the entire region, different territories follow their own approaches, while fragmented distribution networks make wider regulation especially difficult to implement in such a major global pharmaceutical hub. This makes countries like India, China and Thailand crucial transit points[3], not only for legitimate pharma distribution networks, but counterfeiters too.

The therapeutics most frequently targeted by fraudulent organisations tend to be those with the highest commercial and medical demand: antimalarials, antibiotics and antiretrovirals are especially high-volume targets in markets with substantial infectious disease burdens. By contrast, lifestyle medicines such as erectile dysfunction treatments and weight loss products are also significant targets, as they tend to operate at high profit margins, and patients are often reluctant to speak up about their suspicions. Concerningly, oncology medication (including biologics) has also become a target for counterfeiters, creating severe risks to patient safety and even compromise survival outcomes.

The distribution channels through which counterfeit pharmaceuticals reach patients vary substantially across Asia-Pacific markets. While they most commonly encompass illegal online pharmacies that exploit regulatory gaps and patient cost-sensitivity, as well as street vendors, some have managed to infiltrate legitimate pharmaceutical supply chains. This creates a time-sensitive imperative for the region’s pharma sector to implement methods of verification and authentication across the supply chain.

Implementing track-and-trace technologies and serialisation

The most robust way of combatting counterfeit medication is through the introduction of comprehensive track-and-trace systems, which enable product authentication and supply chain oversight from manufacturing through to patient dispensing. Barcode-based serialisation systems[4] provide a link to a centralised database which stores product information including manufacturing date, batch number and expiry date. These can be verified at each stage to create full product genealogies, from manufacturing to distribution, providing counterfeit detection, diversion identification and recall management, as well as supporting with efforts to optimise inventory and improve operational efficiency.

Several Asia-Pacific markets - namely China and South Korea – have already implemented mandatory pharmaceutical serialisation requirements, though regulatory frameworks varying substantially in scope, technical specifications and implementation timelines. India's current serialisation framework, while still an expanding mandatory system, enables authorities to address stakeholder concerns around technical feasibility and infrastructure readiness.

The technical architecture of track-and-trace systems encompasses multiple components, from line-level equipment that prints and applies unique identifiers to packages to comprehensive enterprise serialisation platforms which manage the flow of data between manufacturing operations and regulatory repositories. Integrating these components within existing manufacturing and packaging operations requires infrastructural overhaul, incorporating lengthy timelines and significant investment, particularly for implementations split across multiple sites.

Blockchain integration and distributed ledger technologies

Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising enhancement to traditional track-and-trace systems; its pharmaceutical applications[5] encompass product authentication through tamper-proof transaction histories, supply chain transparency to enabling stakeholder visibility into product movements and smart contracts, which can automate verification and compliance processes.

Pilot programmes have been rolled out across the Asia-Pacific, and tests in China, Singapore and India have all shown technical feasibility, with focus on higher-value products or specific segments of the supply chain. However, questions remain around scalability and cost-effectiveness, particularly considering the substantial tech investments and operational changes required to put into place.

Integrating blockchain with other anti-counterfeiting technologies like serialisation, authentication features and IoT sensors has been seen as an emerging best practice, and can provide even wider opportunities for comprehensive, complementary security architectures. Blockchain can provide immutable documentation of serialisation data and automated processing of IoT sensor data to log environmental conditions throughout supply chains.

Multi-layered anti-counterfeiting strategies and digital authentication

The most comprehensive anti-counterfeiting strategies bring together multiple authentication methods[6] at once to provide a level of security that matches product value and wider risk of forgery. Overt features like holograms or colour-shifting inks provide visible authentication cues that can be verified by consumers, pharmacists and inspectors without specialised equipment, creating a first-line defence. Modern holographic technologies incorporate multiple security layers including microtext, hidden images visible only under specific lighting conditions and serialised numbering to track individual labels. While poorly designed or manufactured holograms may be relatively easy to counterfeit, those which incorporate multiple sophisticated features are known to provide robust protection.

Covert features, such as invisible inks, microprinting and embedded tagging materials, need appropriate equipment to detect, helping supply chain participants and enforcement authorities confirm a product’s authenticity. whilst remaining hidden from counterfeiters. Molecular tagging, DNA markers or isotopic signatures fall under the category of forensic features, which enable definitive authentication through laboratory analysis to providing evidentiary support and enabling verification when other methods prove inconclusive.

Digital authentication technologies including QR codes, near-field communication (NFC) tags and digital watermarks enable products to be verified via smartphone, creating opportunities for consumer authentication and supply chain monitoring. These technologies link physical packages to digital information systems, enabling verification queries that confirm product legitimacy, provide information related to manufacturing and distribution and detect suspicious verification patterns that could indicate foul play. While these technologies are, again, costly to put into place, engagement has been demonstrably high during pilot programmes, thanks to the use of mobile applications and cloud-based verification platforms.

Regulatory frameworks and initiatives for international cooperation

With such pronounced risks to the global supply chain, organisations around the world such as the WHO and INTERPOL have established initiatives to address the impact of counterfeiting through regulatory guidance and enforcement coordination, especially in markets with limited anti-counterfeiting infrastructure. Pharma-centric steering committees within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) have explored opportunities for aligned enforcement approaches across member countries. In the face of varying priorities and different stages of regulatory maturity, Asia-Pacific states are seeking to simply the compliance process for pharmaceutical companies that operate across multiple markets, as well as enhance the security of their supply chain through information sharing.

Established in 2002, the Pharmaceutical Security Institute provides platforms for pharma companies, law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to coordinate global investigations into pharma counterfeiting trends and criminal networks. According to PSI data, there was an 18% year-on-year rise in pharma counterfeiting incidents[7] involving distinct medicines across the Asia-Pacific in 2025, noting that this can actually be seen as an encouraging statistic, due to the transparency from law enforcement and regulators in reporting these crimes.

Bringing the pharma industry together to counter the counterfeiters

There’s no denying the fact that counterfeiting techniques are becoming more refined and harder to detect at a glance. However the rapid evolution of anti-counterfeiting technologies and the complexity of putting security strategies into place sets up significant demand for platforms to exchange knowledge and source technological strategies to keep the supply chain safe.

The inaugural edition of Pharmapack Asia[8], which runs from 3-4 November 2026 at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, is set to host more than 120 exhibiting companies from over 40 countries across the world. With a strategically chosen location to maximise opportunities for international companies to take advantage of the region’s emerging pharmaceutical hub, the show offers the ideal opportunity for organisations to make direct connections with the companies dedicated to making the pharma supply chain safer. What’s more, the event boasts a packed roster of speakers over two days, including a full afternoon dedicated to the current state of play of smart packaging and anti-counterfeiting technology for the pharma sector.

As one of the most pressing concerns in the current industry landscape, it’s essential for the sector to come together to determine best practice in stopping the proliferation of pharmaceutical counterfeiting. With a considerable impact on brand reputation, regulatory compliance, supply chain security and quality assurance, there’s never been a more critical time to understand the scale of the threat and access the expertise needed to put measures in place to ensure patient safety.