AlpVision claims 'zero cost' with security tech

Swiss company AlpVision unveiled its Cryptoglyph anticounterfeiting technology in front of a pharmaceutical audience for the first time at the Pharma Packaging and Labelling event in Amsterdam last week.

The company said its technology requires no special ink or taggants, but is simply a pattern of micro holes invisible to the naked eye, generated in the varnish layer within standard printing processes such as rotogravure, flexography and offset.

The simplicity of the technology is such that this "very high level of covert security for packaging and labelling" can be provided "at zero production cost," according to a company press release.

The version of Crptoglyph shown in Amsterdam is a variation on AlpVision's technology, which is already used in a number of nonpharmaceutical applications because it can be applied directly to the transparent varnish layer of the packaging or of the labelling. Crucially, it requires no alteration to the production process or printing speed.

"The process even saves a small percentage of the varnish ink compared to the printing of the same packaging or labelling without the covert protection," said AlpVision's corporate communications manager Roland Meylan.

The detection of the covert marking can be achieved using an ordinary office scanner or camera phone, giving a 'genuine-or-fake' verdict in just a few seconds.

The security check can be performed anywhere as it does not require a fixed data network connection, says AlpVision, and the image can also be used to identify a genuine product and uncover potential grey market diversion.