Baxa launches ValiMed system to combat counterfeiting
validates narcotic returns and identifies counterfeit medications.
The system also offers validation of medication to ensure the type
and strength of high-risk medications.
Currently the industry of counterfeit pharmaceuticals is causing great concern with the World Health Organisation estimating that 5-8 per cent of worldwide trade in pharmaceuticals is counterfeit.
Many fake pharmaceutical products come from illegal operations with poor controls and may contain ingredients that could be harmful.
One of the failsafe features of the ValiMed system allows the verification of medications in seconds, providing the necessary level of safety in the medication dispensing process.
Its patent-pending technology identifies the strength to validate compounded doses of high-risk medications prior to dispensing.
"The ValiMed Solution offers our customers fluid medication devices that improve operations and increase medication safety," said Greg Baldwin, Baxa Chairman and CEO.
Under an agreement announced in early November, Baxa becomes the distributor of the CDEX ValiMed System for healthcare organisations in the US and Canada, who have expressed interest in utilising this system to meet hospital pharmacy requirements.
"The technology allows pharmacists to ensure the accuracy of compounded solutions, meeting USP 797 and other regulatory requirements," said Malcolm Philips, CDEX CEO and Chairman.
USP 797 and other regulations now require pharmacies to comply with guidelines almost as strict as those required of pharmaceutical manufacturers.
This includes standards in technique, training, and environmental concerns. Most relevantly, these new regulations require that compounded products be tested for accuracy and sterility.
The ValiMed System aims to address an ongoing problem which The Institute of Medicine believes is not decreasing. They estimate that nearly 98,000 Americans die each year from medication errors.
The Institute of Medicine analysts believe the greatest area of vulnerability has proven to be the most difficult to monitor: high alert medications.
Even when clinicians knew their work was being evaluated roughly 5 per cent of all IV admixtures were compounded in error.
The healthcare industry has attempted to respond to the problem, however, the solutions offered are not foolproof.
The best example is an IV, where the only truly effective way to check would be to send a sample to a lab for analysis, adding an unacceptable level of cost and time.
Baxa launches its ValiMed System at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Meeting to be held December 4 - 8, 2005 in Las Vegas, US.
