MarkMonitor®, the global leader in enterprise brand protection, today released the company’s latest Brandjacking Index®, which finds a parallel online system of pharmaceutical supply and demand fueled by continued growth in listings for pharmaceuticals on business-to-business (B2B) exchange sites as well as increased traffic to illicit pharmacies. The report also reveals a growth in pharmaceutical brandjacking for popular drug brands.
“Scammers are opportunists, and by targeting the supply chain they’re positioning themselves to move the greatest amount of fake product they can,” said Frederick Felman, chief marketing officer at MarkMonitor. “This maximizes their return on the scam but it also poses a potential danger to peoples’ health and safety, not to mention brand reputation.”
Against the backdrop of the healthcare reform debate and the medical profession bracing itself for another wave in H1N1 virus cases this fall, consumers are turning to the Internet, visiting both legal and illicit online pharmacies, while offshore manufacturers increasingly embrace B2B exchange sites to sell bulk quantities of branded prescription drugs, often of suspicious quality. As more people try to save money when purchasing drugs and more companies look to streamline operations, especially in the current economy, the cost savings and efficiencies of e-commerce become even more attractive, presenting a tempting opportunity for online fraud and brand abuse on both the supply and demand side of the equation.