Mayo and Dublin-based engineering consultancy Horizon has developed tracking systems designed to limit the circulation of counterfeit drugs. The firm has completed tests on its system with three pharmaceutical companies based in Ireland, Belgium and the US, it said.

The “track and trace” or serialisation systems help the pharma sector control supply chain security, patient safety and compliance with future regulatory requirements.

Horizon managing director Aiden Corcoran said many counterfeiters had access to the same high-tech equipment as authentic manufacturers, making it difficult to differentiate between fake and genuine medicines.

Counterfeit medicines with an estimated value of €11 million are stopped at EU borders each year. Such fake drugs can sometimes enter legal distribution systems in the health sector.

Fake versions of Roche’s cancer drug Avastin have infiltrated the US pharmaceutical supply chain over the past year, prompting warnings from the US Food and Drug Administration to doctors to avoid certain distributors of the drug.

The Irish pharmaceutical export business is worth €55 billion annually and “needs to be protected”, Mr Corcoran said.

“With serialisation, a unique identifier, like a passport or fingerprint, can be allocated to an individual product, monitoring its journey from production right to the customer.”

He said similar tracking systems could in future be applied to other industries, including the food sector and the medical devices sector.