Anti-Counterfeit Pharmaceutical & Cosmetic Packaging Market Accelerates | Authentication Solutions in High Demand

Global anti-counterfeit pharmaceutical and cosmetic packaging market is booming. With the global counterfeit drug problem reaching staggering levels (about 10% of all medicines are fake), safety concerns, brand protection and consumer trust have all reached a tipping point. Anti-counterfeit packaging has become a frontline defense for pharmaceutical companies and cosmetic brands to help fight fraud.

Fake cosmetics, beauty and skincare products, meanwhile, have long been pervasive in online marketplaces and distribution channels that often skirt brand regulations and safety standards. Consumers are increasingly worried about product quality, supply chain integrity and product authenticity.

Market Trends

The Fight Against Fakes: Counterfeit pharmaceuticals are a $72 billion problem and make up an estimated 10% of all medicine (even higher in low- and middle-income countries), but the cosmetic industry is also grappling with fake beauty and skincare products being sold online. In both industries, these products often contain hazardous ingredients, lower quality materials and zero quality controls, creating public health concerns and regulatory action.

Smart Packaging Solutions: Solutions range from holograms and QR codes to RFID tags and chips, blockchain systems, forensic markers and covert and overt features to integrate into packaging systems. These solutions work to provide multi-layered authentication, traceability and forensic intelligence to combat counterfeiting.

Authentication Solutions Gain Traction

Authentication solutions are seeing the most growth, with overt packaging features like holographic labels, security threads, watermarks, color-shifting inks and more combined with covert packaging markers (invisible inks, microtext, optically variable devices, encoded printing, microtags and taggants) to protect brands against fakes.

Smartphone-authenticable codes and digital authentication technology also allow brands to track their supply chains, enable consumers to authenticate and verify their products in real-time and combat counterfeiting. This also allows companies to gather consumer data for analytics and marketing and allow customers to verify a product’s origins, formulation, and safety certifications through digital scanning.

Drug, cosmetic and skincare brands are also bulking up on their packaging security and defenses, with serialized packaging and track-and-trace capabilities, tamper-proof features and anti-tamper messages taking off.

Pharma is a Front Runner

Pharmaceutical companies are facing serious regulatory mandates from the FDA, EMA, WHO and others to install serialized packaging, track-and-trace mechanisms, product authentication solutions and anti-counterfeit solutions to secure their supply chains and protect patients. Serialized packaging, for example, is now mandated in the US (FDA’s Drug Supply Chain Security Act, or DSCSA) and EU (EMA’s Falsified Medicines Directive, or FMD) and other pharmaceutical manufacturers around the world are installing serialized packaging and anti-counterfeit solutions to meet mandates and protect their supply chains.

Cosmetic packaging to protect against fakes is following in its footsteps, with the most active adoption in premium beauty and natural skincare brands where safety and transparency are the biggest selling points. Anti-counterfeit, authentication and serialization packaging is also a powerful defense against growing counterfeit activity in e-commerce distribution channels.

Recent Developments

In February 2025: The Indian packaging industry declared that anti-counterfeit measures are being imposed to put an end to the counterfeit drug trade. Fake drugs are dangerous for the public’s health and drug regulators and poison the brands’ image as well. In order to counteract, drug regulators have set security plans to raise anti-counterfeit packaging that incorporates both visible and invisible markers in the drug product packaging.

In November 2023: Systech (Brand of Markem-Imaje) introduced UniSecure, an upgraded anti-counterfeiting product security feature that authenticates products, is easy-to-use, and integrates quickly with existing systems. Brands can apply UniSecure to their products today using existing 1D, 2D Data Matrix, or QR codes, which are immediately converted into a unique digital signature using Systech’s e-Fingerprint technology. This solution enables brands to verify distribution of their products by scanning with a smartphone. It also immediately alerts brands to counterfeiting and diversion activity. Compatible with existing packaging, UniSecure does not require new barcodes and can be integrated with label printing systems already in place at most facilities. It also provides forensic intelligence on attempted or successful counterfeiting or diversion for root cause analysis to drive remediation. It was launched at Healthcare Packaging Expo 2023.

Regional Outlook

North America and Europe are leading the market, with mature pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, and stringent regulatory requirements for serialization, track-and-trace and packaging security. However, Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing region, particularly in China and India where both counterfeiting is high and governments are investing in supply chain and track-and-trace technology to protect their economies and citizens.

Market Growth

The global anti-counterfeit packaging market for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics is projected to register a healthy CAGR through 2030, with growing demand for authentication solutions and smart packaging for cosmetics in addition to existing and mature markets in pharmaceuticals.

Get Sample Report at https://www.theresearchinsights.com/request_sample?id=292