Medication labels

 Statistics show that around 30 billion packs of medicines are sold in Europe each year. Such a large market is inevitably prone to various types of abuse, which can be a threat to patients’ health and lives. Furthermore, this may have a negative impact on the reputation of pharmaceutical companies. Given this situation, it is not surprising that the European Union has mandated additional safety features for medicinal products.

In February 2019, the so-called Anti-Tampering Directive (a regulation supplementing Directive 2001/83/EC) came into force. This regulation directly addresses the security features of medicines packaging. ATD anti-tampering device labels. Their aim is to counteract the abuse of both prescription medicines and high-risk products sold over-the-counter.

There are essentially two assumptions behind this directive:

• Medications should be marked with a unique serial number, allowing for instant identification and verification of authenticity.
• Medications should be sealed in such a way that any tampering attempt can be easily seen.

The latter premise perfectly matches the VOID and destructible security labels offered by Libeli.

VOID-type labels

It is impossible to stick them or peel them off without it being noticed. Attempts to tamper with these types of labels end up in them getting damaged, with the permanent inscriptions saying: „VOID” or „VOID OPEN” remaining where the labels were. For the pharmacist or patient, this is a clear sign that the package has been opened beforehand and it is not really known whether the medicine inside is legally authorised or possibly a fake product that poses a threat to health and life.

Destructible labels

This type of labelling also aims to prevent unauthorised access to the medicine package. In this case, a potential attempt at counterfeiting is visible, as the label is destroyed, along with the top layer of cardboard packaging that remains on the label after peeling it off. It is virtually impossible to remove such a label intact without leaving traces of tampering with it.

In addition to the above types of security features, it is also important to mention invisible UV overprinting, which can further enhance the security of pharmaceuticals. Many of our customers are already using them.

The security labels offered by Libeli also meet the legal requirements for limiting the migration of adhesives into the drug packaging. These are the same standards that determine the approval of labels for use in the food industry. Microscopic particles of chemicals contained in adhesives are prevented from entering medicines through the packaging. This is a prerequisite so as not to expose patients to the dangers of ingesting harmful substances. Ultimately, labels with low-migration adhesives provide not only a high level of user comfort, but also ensure safety, which is so crucial in the case of medicines.