FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Meliza Anne Mitra
Sproxil Announces Alliance with Greenlife Pharmaceutical Limited
and Bliss GVS Pharma Limited to Protect LONART DS From Counterfeiting
First Cross-National Collaboration Between India and Nigeria Offers Counterfeit Protection
for Popular Anti-Malarial Drug.
Cambridge, MA, September 22, 2011 — Sproxil, a U.S.-based company that provides world-class brand protection in emerging markets through software and services that work anywhere there are mobile phones, today announced the establishment of an alliance with Greenlife Pharmaceutical Limited, a Nigeria-based distributor for prescription medications, and Bliss GVS Pharma Limited, an India-based pharmaceutical manufacturing company. Providing protection for the popular anti-malarial drug LONART, the partnership marks Sproxil’s first cross-national collaboration between India and Nigeria, allowing Nigerians to verify the authenticity of a crucial anti-malaria drug.
To maintain the integrity of the LONART Brand, Greenlife Pharmaceuticals and LONART manufacturer Bliss GVS Pharma have instituted a Mobile Authentication Service (MAS) to provide customers a way to verify the authenticity of their product at the point of purchase. Powered by Sproxil advanced technology, the same anti-counterfeiting services were launched by NAFDAC in Lagos last year and continue to prove successful in creating unsafe harbours for counterfeiters.
Sproxil ‘s Mobile Product Authentication™ (MPA) technology capitalizes on technologies that already exist and are readily accessible and easily understood by all levels of society – namely cellular phone SMS capabilities and scratch-off lottery-style labels. The company’s services allow end consumers to verify with a simple free text message that they are not purchasing counterfeit medication.
The recent LONART counterfeiting episode, successfully intercepted by NAFDAC officials illustrated the need to collaborate with other stakeholders on a way to abolish counterfeit drugs. Gagan Harsh, General Manager of Bliss GVS Pharma states, “while the direct impact on this service in controlling counterfeiting as a menace is yet to be seen, the start has been quite promising and things seem to be moving in the right direction.”
Counterfeit medicines are alarmingly prevalent in developing societies and are an issue that has increasingly plagued Greenlife Pharmaceutical’s flagship medication, LONART. “I am quite pleased that [Greenlife Pharmaceuticals and Bliss GVS Pharma] chose to protect not just their product, but Nigerians as well,” states Sproxil Director, Mr. Tomi Davies, “[the genuine LONART medication is] saving countless lives.”
Although the launch event is officially set for September 22nd, the MAS for LONART has already commenced. Within a short span of time more than 10,000 people have already authenticated their LONART purchases.
About Greenlife Pharmaceuticals
Greenlife Pharmaceuticals Limited, a family-owned partnership business based in Nigeria, is committed to sales, distribution and marketing of best in class quality and affordable brands of pharmaceutical products in its bid to promote healthy living. Its primary business focus is on healthcare delivery, with the vision of “being a vanguard of healthy living and a choice companion to all her publics.” The company has, over time, introduced some pharmaceutical products of various therapeutic segments which have become brand leaders into the Nigerian markets: Anti-Malarials, Anti-Infectives, Anti-Inflammatory, Anti-Helminthes, Anti-Hypertensive, Laxatives, and Multivitamins, among others. The company’s products are also marketed in some other countries in the West Coast of Africa.
About Bliss GVS Pharma
BLISS GVS Pharma is an India-based, WHO-cGMP Certified company that has been manufacturing over 100 different pharmaceutical products for over 26 years, with products selling in over 50 countries. These products are available in various dosage forms, ranging from tablets to suppositories. Bliss is one of the fastest growing, medium-sized Pharmaceutical companies in India, and has a strong presence in generics in multiple dosage forms. Bliss GVS’s brands, such as LONART and ALAXIN, are some of the leading brands in African countries and are the preferred Anti-Malarial Products among the Medical Practitioners.
About Sproxil
Sproxil provides world-class brand protection for emerging markets through software and services that work anywhere there are mobile phones. Delivering automatic protection, simple labels and robust back-end analytics with its Mobile Product AuthenticationTM (MPA) solution, Sproxil offers a comprehensive anti-counterfeiting strategy for cash-based societies, one that enables consumers to text message an item-unique code for a rapid response that confirms a brand’s genuineness. Simple, easy to use and with no consumer capital investment, the Acumen Fund-backed solution – provisioned on three continents – offers the world’s only patented, consumer SMS verification service. Our solution also helps companies connect directly to their consumers through customized text message responses and ads that specifically target those demographics with known buying behaviors. Learn more at www.sproxil.com.
