[securPharm e. V. - a protective shield against falsified medicines].

It is the declared objective of the Falsified Medicines Directive 2011/62/EU to further improve the protection of patients from falsified pharmaceuticals. Therefore, it stipulates measures based on which falsified medicines in the supply chain can be more easily identified. This is the European legislature's reaction to an increase in falsified medicines. The EU Falsified Medicines Directive aims to create a uniform, standardized solution for protection from falsified drugs. From 9 February 2019 onward (according to the EU Regulation No. 2016/161), manufacturers may only release prescription drugs bearing two safety features into circulation and pharmacies may only dispense these drugs to patients following a successful authentication.The EU legislature demands that each EU member state establish a non-profit national medicines verification organisation (NMVO) that sets up and operates a national medicines verification system (NMVS) for the authentication of pharmaceuticals. In Germany, this is securPharm e. V., an alliance of the pharmaceutical industry, wholesalers and pharmacies. securPharm e. V. was established in 2011. Since 2013, pharmaceutical companies, wholesalers and pharmacies have been able to use the securPharm system for testing purposes. This article provides an overview of the current project progress of securPharm e. V. as of June 2017.