Brand Protection in Pharma: Combining Online Enforcement with Expert Investigations

For pharmaceutical companies, protecting brands and patient safety has never been more important — or more challenging. Learn how you can combat emerging threats from sophisticated criminals.

The pharmaceutical industry operates in a high-stakes environment where patient safety, regulatory compliance, and intellectual property protection intersect. With the rise of online marketplaces, social media and illegal online pharmacies, counterfeit medications, unauthorized sales, and illegal product diversion have become more pervasive and harder to combat.

This blog explores the evolving threat landscape facing pharma brands and how a combination of brand protection technology and end-to-end investigations can effectively mitigate these risks.

Key threats: counterfeit, unauthorized sales, and product diversion

Pharmaceutical companies face a range of threats, each with significant consequences for their brands and public health.

Counterfeit medications and medical devices

One of the most dangerous is the spread of counterfeit medications and medical devices, which often contain incorrect or harmful ingredients and lack the active substances necessary to treat medical conditions. These fake products are frequently tied to organized crime and can have devastating effects on patient health.

Gray market threats

Unauthorized sale of prescription drugs is another growing issue. These unregulated transactions not only bypass regulatory safeguards but also pose risks like dangerous drug interactions and misuse.

Adding to these concerns is the issue of illegal product diversion, where legitimate products are sold outside authorized channels, often without regard for expiration dates or proper storage conditions. These goods may be moved between countries or regions without the manufacturer’s knowledge, and are frequently sold at lower prices, undermining legitimate distribution channels and quality control.

Scams and impersonation

Scams and impersonation tactics have become common on social media platforms, where counterfeiters create fake profiles, adverts, and websites to drive traffic to copycat websites that sell counterfeit pharmaceuticals. These scams can severely damage a brand’s reputation and put consumers at risk by directing them to dangerous websites.

The digital battlefield: where threats emerge

These threats are exacerbated by the vast, fast-moving digital environment. Online marketplaces are filled with counterfeit and diverted products, allowing infringing sellers to reach a global audience. Even the most reputable platforms struggle to keep up with the flood of illegal listings, making it challenging for pharmaceutical companies to maintain control.

To compound the issue, websites—many disguised as legitimate pharmacies—have proliferated, creating a “whack-a-mole” problem. These websites, often part of larger networks, are difficult to track and shut down, as new ones quickly replace those that are removed.

On social media, impersonation profiles are increasingly used to promote counterfeit goods and fraudulent pharmacies. These profiles can appear legitimate, confusing consumers and luring them into buying counterfeit or unsafe products. The sheer volume of these impersonation attempts makes it an uphill battle for pharma companies to respond quickly and effectively.

The shift toward intelligence-led investigations

Faced with these growing threats, pharmaceutical companies are recognizing that traditional methods are no longer sufficient – such as sporadically enforcing infringing listings and solely relying on law firm support. And simply trying to shut down illegal online pharmacies is often ineffective — due to the volume of infringing sites, these efforts can feel like an endless game of whack-a-mole.

In response, the industry is moving toward a hybrid approach of online programs and intelligence-led investigations. Instead of merely enforcing infringing listings, brands are now tracing the sources of infringements to uncover manufacturers, distributors, and sellers behind the counterfeit or diverted goods. This upstream approach allows you to disrupt the high value targets (HVTs) at the root of the problem, rather than continuously fighting surface-level symptoms.

Your investigations program: the key capabilities required

One essential component is conducting prescription test purchases — a highly sensitive process that many pharmaceutical companies avoid due to strict regulations around impersonation. Trained investigators are needed to perform these purchases safely and legally, using legal aliases to gather critical intelligence about the origins of counterfeit or diverted products. This intelligence is crucial for driving effective enforcement.

An effective investigation strategy combines technology and human expertise.Tools like optical character recognition (OCR) and AI can identify infringements quickly. However, human insight remains crucial to interpret findings, conduct investigations, and collaborate with law enforcement to take offline action against counterfeiters. This offline enforcement is key to disrupting criminal networks and ensuring long-term impact.

Collaboration is essential. Sharing data and insights across the industry enables a more unified enforcement strategy. Working together with law enforcement, regulators, platforms, and other brands, pharmaceutical companies can mount a stronger, more coordinated response, increasing the likelihood of meaningful, lasting results.

Corsearch’s end-to-end approach to Brand Protection

Online monitoring and enforcement programs

Our intelligence is hybrid. We combine decades of industry expertise with unmatched AI capabilities in the market, to help you turn the tide on brand abuse.

Monitor all illicit use of your brand, with the broadest and deepest coverage online and intelligent prioritization for visibility of the most important risks. Harness our fully managed, automated end-to-end processes and AI prioritization for the fastest time to remove counterfeits, diverted products, impersonation profiles, and more. By leveraging machine learning to recognize threats for us, our team of Brand Protection solution partners can focus on the complex tasks – from identifying trends to escalating enforcements with platforms.

With more successful removals than any other provider, we help you clean up priority platforms to reduce risks for good.

Investigations 360

Whether you need to disrupt counterfeiting operations, trace product diversion, or put a stop to damaging impersonation, Investigations 360 combines with our online programs to provide the tools, data and expertise needed to safeguard your brand.

Spanning 100+ countries, our network of dedicated investigators provide you with real-world, actionable intelligence in local markets. Harness our team to find and stop threats at their source by uncovering the people, places, and networks behind the infringement.

Our in-house Investigations Team is one of the largest and most experienced in the industry, with unparalleled expertise in pharmaceuticals and healthcare brand protection. Our team works closely with law enforcement agencies like the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) to identify and take down criminal operations. This collaborative approach allows for greater collective action when engaging with law enforcement, regulators, and online platforms, increasing the chances of meaningful, lasting enforcement.

Talk to a Brand Protection expert

Looking to address the root of infringement, protect brand integrity, ensure patient safety, and improve ROI in an ever-evolving digital landscape?

Talk to one of our experts to find out how we can empower your team.

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Speak to one of our experts

Find out how Corsearch can help you establish, monitor, and protect your brand with confidence.

• Instantly identify IP opportunities and threats
• Harness expertise and advanced AI to reduce cost
• Act fast using reliable data and intuitive dashboards
• Report effectively on the revenue you’re protecting

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Or learn more about our online monitoring and enforcement solutions or Investigations 360.