A relatively simple scanning process that can tackle pharmaceutical fraud at the same time as preventing medication errors is to be developed into a nationwide system for the UK and for trials in other countries.
PA Consulting Group has decided to invest £15m over the next 30 months following a successful trial of its drugs authentication system, completed last year, in 44 pharmacies. The system uses a scanner that can read barcodes or radio-frequency identification chips which, within a second or so, can check with a manufacturers' secure database whether the product is genuine or not.
It can stop patients receiving drugs that have reached their expiry date, or which have been recalled for safety reasons. And the system could be linked to the NHS's £6.2bn IT programme, according to Ian Rhodes, chief executive of Aegate, the developer. The NHS programme is developing a system that will allow prescriptions to be transferred electronically from GPs to pharmacists and then on to the reimbursement authorities for pharmacists to be paid.
