Counterfeit Medicine Analysis

Comprehensive investigative analysis of suspected counterfeit pharmaceutical products

Intertek's investigative analysis expertise is ideally positioned to address the highly technical issues in investigating the increasingly sophisticated counterfeit medicines or fake medicines observed. Counterfeit drugs may include products with the correct ingredients or with the wrong ingredients, without active ingredients, with insufficient active ingredients or with fake packaging. Our Pharmaceutical analysis laboratory network employs a wide scope of analytical technology such as Mass Spectrometry, FTIR spectroscopy, RAMAN spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy and more to explore and identify counterfeits.  

Chemical and physical counterfeit medicine investigations:

• Determine presence of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) present by NMR, GC-MS, LC-MS
• NMR Analysis of counterfeit drugs
• Determine the levels of APIs present
• Dissolution testing according to Eur.Ph. or USP for tablets
• Screen for excipients and other ingredients present e.g. coating materials
• Impurity profiling and impurity identification
• Screen for organic volatiles / residual solvents by GC-MS
• Physical Characterisation such as XRD analysis for API morphology
• Microscopy investigation (FTIR, optical and electron Microcsopy (SEM))
• Particulate shape and morphology,
• thickness of coatings
• GMP Microbiology
• Metals analysis and metals screening
• Packaging investigations:
• Printed and Security ink analysis by gas chromatography
• Paper and card testing
• Surface chemistry investigations e.g. SIMS, XPS, FTIR Microscopy

Request more information to see how Intertek can help your organization with Counterfeit Medicine Analysis.