As concerns over counterfeit weight-loss jabs and other fake medication grows, researchers in the University of Brighton have created a new device designed to make drug verification faster, more reliable and affordable – with the potential to safeguard people across the globe.
The FakeMedSensor – a hand-held electrochemical sensor device – has been created by researchers in the School of Applied Sciences to verify the authenticity of medicines quickly, accurately and affordably. Designed for use across the supply chain, it offers a fast, portable solution for healthcare workers, manufacturers, and even patients.
As high-demand weight-loss and diabetes drugs, like Ozempic, surge in popularity, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has reported the seizure of 869 counterfeit pens in the UK already. Combined with increasingly complex global supply chains, this highlights the urgent need for medicine authentication tools – a challenge researchers at Brighton are now tackling head-on.
Counterfeit medicines are also a growing international concern. According to the World Health Organization, one in ten medical products in low- and middle-income countries is either substandard or falsified. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, fake antimalarials – medications used to prevent or treat malaria – are estimated to cause over 100,000 preventable deaths each year.
The FakeMedSensor is designed to be a low-cost, portable device that uses electrochemical sensing to detect the presence and amount of active pharmaceutical ingredients without needing complex processes. Its potential impact is global: from ensuring the safety of human and animal treatments to protecting food supplies.
Although still in its pilot phase, the prototype has delivered strong results in laboratory trials and is designed for real-world use across a variety of settings. The next stage involves broader testing and refinement to meet regulatory and industry standards, with aspirations to form a commercial spin-out within the next year.
The FakeMedSensor was developed by Professor Bhavik Patel, Professor of Clinical and Bioanalytical Chemistry at the University of Brighton, alongside Dr Rico Shergill, a PhD researcher in electrochemistry. This work is supported by UKRI’s Connecting Capability Fund and Innovate UK’s ICURe Discover programme.
This innovation is the culmination of over 10 years of dedicated research, supported by students of varying levels – including undergraduate and postgraduate – whose contributions have been integral to the development of this tool as part of Dr Shergill’s PhD project.
Professor Patel said: “Falsified and substandard medication presents a serious threat to global health – one that disproportionately affects vulnerable populations. Our work is about delivering a practical solution that provides wide scale surveillance of medicines throughout all phases of the supply chain.”
“We’ve focused on making the FakeMedSensor accurate, low-cost, and easy to use. This technology has the potential to safeguard health in both high-tech and low-resource environments.”
Dr Shergill said: “Fake or poor-quality drugs can enter the system at any stage – from production to point of sale. So, we wanted a low-cost, portable device that could be used anywhere to detect issues in real time.”
“One of the hardest parts has been balancing the science with the commercial side. There were moments of doubt, trying to validate something technically complex while also figuring out who it would serve and how. There were times when I didn’t have all the answers. But the encouragement from the university, supervisors, and family, to keep pushing forward, to step back and refine the focus, has kept the project moving.”
This project reflects the university’s longstanding commitment to impactful research, and real-world change. Both Professor Patel and Dr Shergill began their academic journeys at Brighton – from undergraduate study to leading research tackling global challenges.
The FakeMedSensor is not yet on the market, but its potential is clear: a portable, affordable solution to help detect counterfeit medicines in real time and protect patient safety worldwide.
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