Few high-tech startups can save lives, and Sproxil, a startup that focuses on mobile apps, could be a rare exception. Sporxil products are very simple, customers only need to send a text message before buying drugs can detect the authenticity of drugs. Sproxil and pharmaceutical companies affixed a code label on the drug packaging, as long as customers tear open the label before buying drugs, use the phone to text code to the product verification number, immediately you can get the drug is the real text message reply. Only in developing countries where fake drugs are flooding can people understand the role that this simple solution can play in life. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 30% of the drugs sold in developing countries are counterfeit. In countries such as Ghana and Pakistan, up to 50% of drugs on the market are unqualified, which means they contain drugs that are low enough to deliver the desired effect. It is estimated that about 700,000 people die of fake drugs each year. From the very beginning of Sproxil's 2009 build and the verification label on the first pill bottle, consumer reaction is a snap. Seven months later, the number of fake drugs verified by Sproxil exceeded 20,000, and in just two years, the mobile authentication system has been used 1 million times.
Verify requirements and media
Ashifi Gogo, founding partner and CEO of Sproxil, grew up in Ghana. He found that in many countries in Africa, almost all of them have access to mobile phones, despite their inability to get clean water and medicines. "In fact, opening up the telecom industry in many African countries has created a booming mobile market that offers many opportunities for using mobile phones to solve these basic problems." The proliferation of counterfeit drugs has provided a vast market for authenticity and authentication products, while the popularity of cell phones and Telecom services in turn provide a very convenient medium for the product. Unlike the traditional anti-counterfeiting efforts in the pharmaceutical supply chain, Sproxil's technology puts drug validation in the hands of end users of mobile devices through communication technologies. The background at Ashifi Gogo's Ivy Engineering Ph.D. allows him to master the concepts of text messaging and cloud-based asymmetric encryption and authentication - simple, numbered tags and powerful back-end analysis. Despite the complexity of the background analysis, for a consumer who wants to buy medicine, only three simple steps are needed: first, reveal the PIN code by scratching the label drug, and then use the phone to send the PIN code to a designated number, then wait A sms reply confirms that it is "real" or "fake." More to the point, for the consumer, this service is completely free. All of the expensive back-office cloud computing models and the mobile operators' telecom costs are paid by pharmaceutical companies and agencies that use the product.
Why pay for pharmaceutical companies?
Pharmaceutical companies have to do is also very simple. Anti-counterfeit labels that you want to attach to Sproxil are subject to payment. In Nigeria, Sproxil has sold over 5 million anti-counterfeit labels. Sproxil's clients include a range of local companies as well as global pharmaceutical giants like GSK and Johnson & Johnson. GlaxoSmithKline just bought 2 million labels a year for its local vaccine sales. As early as before the cooperation with Sproxil, global pharmaceutical companies have already scratched their minds for counterfeit drugs. According to the World Customs Organization (WCO), counterfeit drugs are estimated to have a global market of 20 billion U.S. dollars. It is reported that in early 2013, Interpol and 29 pharmaceutical companies reached an agreement to invest 4.5 million euros in three years to establish a linkage mechanism to combat fake drugs. The pharmaceutical companies that supported the project include AstraZeneca, Bayer, BuMeschuangbao, the First San Gong Pharmaceutical, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi and others. The same money, the purchase of Sproxil services may seem more targeted. The information on any one counterfeit drug, along with the verification sms and the purchase location provided on the sms, allows the pharmaceutical company to locate directly the source of the counterfeit drugs. Although Sproxil is still unknown in China, Chinese pharmaceutical companies that have pioneered operations in Africa are already users of such mobile authentication systems. In the past few years, the reputation of Chinese pharmaceutical companies in Africa has been hit hard. Rather than sticking to the image of the disease and treating the disease, the Chinese company has instead been accused of being the center of a huge industry that dumps counterfeit drugs on the African continent, causing billions of dollars in financial losses and incalculable loss of life. According to media reports, Guilin Pharmaceutical of China has launched an anti-counterfeiting verification method for SMS against malaria produced by the Company in Africa. In addition to business purchases, Sproxil also received widespread government support. In 2010, Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) started a nationwide pilot program and nationwide launch of Sproxil.
Verify system big data
Ashifi Gogo has in fact more ambitious ideas than drug validation. As early as 2007, Gogo once said: "Five years later, I do not want us to say fake medicine anymore, then I would like to talk about our data." From the current service provided by Sproxil, the drug purchaser sends a verification At the same time, the location and sales of pharmaceutical products have been sent to the Sproxil data center. Therefore, the detailed information such as the geographical location and market scope of the pharmaceutical products will be accurately conveyed. Gogo said that when the verification information accumulated to a certain extent, the data integration can become the most credible and intuitive market research report for the enterprise, to provide better user feedback for pharmaceutical companies. On August 13, Sproxil announced that its validation system, which starts with drug validation, has been extended to Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, India and the United States on three continents. With the exception of the medical field, Sproxil also hopes to extend its validation system to other areas. "Although we have started and will continue to do business in humanitarian-related areas, especially in the medical field, we have also found the ability to engage directly with consumers and interact."
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