Product Category: Contact Lenses
Regions: Russia, China, Turkey, Czech Republic, Poland, Mexico
The Challenge
After an anti-counterfeit initiative that relied on packaging markers fell short, a leading pharmaceutical company was left exposed. Counterfeit complaints were coming in from across the globe, but the company had no way to distinguish isolated incidents from larger threats. They needed a fully non-additive solution that could work with existing packaging already in the field, as packaging often remains in circulation for up to five years.
What they faced:
- Increased product quality complaints involving suspected counterfeit contact lenses
- A legacy vendor whose marker-based solution failed
- Urgent need for a non-additive, scalable solution that could analyze packaging without modification already in the field.
Before TrueMed
- 100+ complaints, no pattern
- Every case treated as unique
- Failed packaging marker system
- No scalable field solution
After TrueMed
- 5 clear counterfeit variants
- Visual clustering by AI
- Zero product modification
- Field-ready forensic intelligence
“Our lab had been treating every counterfeit as a separate case. TrueMed revealed the pattern behind the noise. This is a leap forward in how we handle brand protection.”
— Director, Global Brand Protection
The Solution
TrueMed offered something their prior vendor couldn’t:
- Non-additive forensic analysis
- Instant Digital lab and field capability to analyze potential counterfeits
- Immediate insights and reporting
With TrueMed’s AI-powered Digital Forensic Lab, the company could analyze and cluster counterfeits based on packaging design with no added markers required.
How it Worked
TrueMed analyzed 10 key graphical packaging elements per sample (fonts, logos, print quality) and applied a custom clustering algorithm to identify shared patterns.
100 counterfeits were grouped into just 5 meaningful variants.
This allowed the client to:
- Identify geographic spread of variants
- Understand visual “mutations” across time
- Focus enforcement where it matters most
Impact and Looking Ahead
TrueMed helped the client shift from reacting to 100 scattered counterfeit cases to focusing on 5 key threats—revealing actionable patterns behind the noise.
- Transformed isolated investigations into pattern-driven strategy
- Boosted internal confidence in scalable, non-additive solutions
- Set the stage for long-term cost savings and broader rollout