Our Commitment
Combating counterfeits requires a globally-coordinated effort of all public and private stakeholders affected. On a corporate basis and locally we actively support those initiatives by associations, law-enforcement authorities and governments. These are designed to fight the spread of counterfeit medicines.
Initiatives supported
We collaborate e.g. with
- IFPMA (International Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations),
- EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries Associations),
- PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) and other national Pharmaceutical associations and contribute to
- WHO's International Medical Product Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT).
Activities of Boehringer Ingelheim
Supply chain control and traceability
Security features where appropriate
Investigation and prosecution
Rapid reporting and open communication
Cross-functional anti-counterfeiting team
Supply chain control is a key principle in the fight against counterfeits. This includes the physical control of those involved, i.e. only working with trustworthy, possibly audited and certified partners. We are also preparing for traceability solutions based on so called mass-serialisation which means the application of an individual, machine-readable code to every pack. These codes will allow the authentication of the product in the pharmacy and / or the tracking of the product through the complete supply chain.
Based on the risk of being counterfeited, we implement product security technology to impede the production of counterfeit copies of our products and to make them distinguishable from our own products.
We cooperate actively with investigators and criminal prosecutors to prevent the sale of counterfeit products and to call persons involved to account. Boehringer Ingelheim also is in contact with customs and other stakeholders to raise their awareness of counterfeited pharmaceuticals and their knowledge of our products.
All detected counterfeit cases of our products are reported through our global rapid reporting system. We ensure that authorities are properly informed and decide on appropriate next steps.
