A new device to help identify counterfeit goods could help combat the fake drugs trade and save hundreds of thousands of lives each year.
The United Nations says about 700,000 people die every year after being administered fake malaria and tuberculosis drugs.
About 100,000 deaths a year in Africa are linked to the billion dollar trade, which often includes substances like chalk or flour being passed off as live-saving treatments.
It is almost impossible to identify such treatments using the naked eye but researchers say the new laser "watermark" could be used to stop the illegal trade.
Cambridge University has developed the technique, which could also be used on bank notes and designer goods.
"We think that our printed lasers could be used to protect both products and people," Dr Damian Gardiner, from the university's electrical engineering division, said.
The fraud detection device, which features in a new report by the Cambridge Innovation and Knowledge Centre, uses existing methods for printing liquid crystal lasers with inkjet printers.
This allows far more detailed patterns or colour combinations to be specified than would be the case using traditional watermarking techniques.
When a second laser is directed on to the liquid crystal pattern, it emits a light signature which can then be analysed by a computer and is far more difficult to fake.
The trace can be printed on surfaces ranging from paper to glass or plastics, and in the case of pharmaceuticals would be used to identify drug packaging.
"Techniques like fluorescence have been used to protect goods for a while, but lasers give us much finer control over brand protection," Dr Gardiner said.
"Most importantly, thousands of people are becoming ill or dying around the world every year because they are sold cheap, fake drugs that they believe will help them.
"We hope this will help guard against that type of malpractice."
Share
