KURZ new product protection and traceability solution for COVID pharmaceuticals

As one of the world's leading providers of comprehensive security concepts, KURZ has developed a product protection solution for Covid-19 pharmaceuticals. It makes it possible to securely authenticate test kits and vaccines, and to track the flow of goods. The Covid counterfeit protection solution consists of a physical Trustseal security label and Trustcode software. KURZ relies on the combination of physical and digital security components for fast, reliable authentication of products.

Such high global sales of pharmaceutical products have attracted counterfeiters too. The risk for people to receive incorrect test results and ineffective or even harmful vaccines is great.

Optical security label for easy verification
The physical component of the Covid solution consists of a security label with customer-specific counterfeit protection elements. This includes UV fluorescent inks and security printing, as well as holographic elements.

One of the security elements used by KURZ is the Trustseal, which is manufactured using proprietary technology. The process creates distinctive light-diffracting optical structures that are easily recognizable from different viewing angles and even under unfavorable lighting conditions. The Trustseal technology delivers high-resolution holographic images with eye-catching brilliance and high recognition factor. This achieves a first level of product protection: a quick originality check with the naked eye. This simple test option is important, for example, when large-scale Covid tests have to be done in a short period of time.

Easily verifiable — difficult to fake

KURZ security features are easily recognizable but difficult to copy. KURZ Covid security labels can be equipped with a variety of optically variable elements that form a high barrier for counterfeiters. Such elements include color structures that change sequentially when the incidence of light changes, colorful shimmering guilloche patterns, varying and static matt structures, eye-catching 3D effects, and image changes that occur when the viewing angle changes.

In addition, the security labels can be provided with both hidden and forensic features. Product protection can be further increased with microtext or nanotext, which can only be read with special readers. A wide range of visible, hidden, and forensic features can be integrated, tailored to customer requirements.

Tamper-proof labels

The KURZ security labels can be produced on various plastic and paper materials. They can be applied to cardboard boxes delivered to doctor’s offices and hospitals, as well as to individual packaging. Special tamper-evident or void effects can be integrated into each security label making manipulation attempts visible immediately. The intact label indicates that the contents of a box or individual packaging are in their original state.

Digital counterfeit protection and traceability

In addition to physical security features, the label can be equipped with functional elements such as a data matrix code or serialization. It also contains a QR code that leads to the second component of the Covid counterfeit protection solution. This component is the Trustcode software that is stored in the Trustcode database and can be accessed via the Trustcode app. This app, which is part of the KURZ Covid solution, can be adapted to the customer's requirement profile.

The serialized QR code is scanned via the app (for iOS and Android), and a connection to the Trustcode database is established. The app user then receives an immediate authentication of the Covid pharmaceuticals.

The database can process more than 30,000 simultaneous requests per second. In addition, further information for customs authorities, pharmaceutical manufacturers, doctors, laboratories, and end users can be stored in the highly secure database.

Customs investigators and manufacturers can find out, for example, for which country the Covid pharmaceutical was produced and which delivery route it took. Information can be provided for users and end users to better understand the product. What’s more, by evaluating the data, heat maps of sources of infection can be visually displayed, for example.