German start-up raises the stakes in combating global health problems in Africa

Chemnitz, 16 November 2021 –

The rising start-up with its unique blockchain technology has set itself the goal of making medicines in Africa counterfeit-proof. Kick-off for the integration of the first four local manufacturers of drugs and medical protective equipment in the Côte d'Ivoire.

Protection of 20 million masks against COVID-19

In November, MED-PROTEX PRODUCTION S.A. starts the production of certified COVID-19 protective masks using German industrial technology in Grand-Bassam, Côte d'Ivoire. Together with the high-tech start-up authentic.network, a completely new combination of protective equipment and digital applications will be launched. For example, proof of authenticity and usage is completely digitized. The buyers of the protective masks only need their smartphone to determine whether the mask is genuine and has the corresponding certification.

With authentic.network technology, almost all products and documents can be made forgery-proof in no time at all and linked to digital applications or new types of services. The code itself can be easily recognized as a green tick and generally indicates "original".

The protection of medicines is an extremely important project for us in our efforts to save human lives and to develop new, local jobs in Africa.Frank Theeg, General Director of authentic.network

60 percent of all African medicines are counterfeit

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 30 and 60 percent of counterfeit drugs are distributed to sick people in Africa. According to estimates by the organization, around 200,000 people die every year as a result of counterfeit antimalarial drugs. The Ivory Coast state alone is losing around 80 million euros in sales in the private sector and 16 million euros from the state through the trade in counterfeit drugs.

Kick-off: first implementation of the authentic technology

The Ministry of Health of Côte d'Ivoire started this project with financial support from DEG, the German Investment and Development Company. The aim is to develop a pilot application for the introduction of authentic technology in Côte d'Ivoire. In addition to end-to-end protection for locally produced drugs, gray market protection is to be implemented in the pilot. The corresponding processes and interfaces have been analyzed, the app has been programmed and can now be downloaded from the app stores in Côte d'Ivoire. In addition, the app with the name "authentic.app" is free of charge.

After the successful congress in Abidjan: The next phase of integration of the first four local manufacturers of medicines and medical protective equipment is starting now. If the process is successful, there is a real chance to make all medicines in Côte d'Ivoire forgery-proof.