How the humble technology of text messaging improves drug safety in developing countries

You don’t normally think of it this way, but your little, non-smart, mobile phone is really a little computer that when used in ways you hadn’t considered, can be a boon to people’s lives.  Such a thing is true of text messaging, technically known as SMS or “short message service“.   Today, it can be used to send short messages to someone about, say, that you’ve landed at the airport or please pick up a loaf of bread at the store.  Easy stuff but what if you could use that technology to prove a drug was authentic and that a patient could safely use it?

That’s what Sproxil has done.  Taken little ole SMS and created a way to use it such that it helps the users and the companies. The users, in some cases, get a safer product.  The producers are able to cut down on piracy of their products.   In the case of medications, Sproxil did this, according to a February 2010 report in Pyramid Points:

Take Africa, where counterfeit goods are rampant, with nearly 100 Nigerians recently killed by a tainted batch of fake pharmaceuticals. In response, a startup called Sproxil created Mobile Product Authentication (MPA): Manufacturers put a unique code, hidden under a scratch-off panel, on their products. The potential buyer then sends the code via SMS to the authentication service, which sends an instant reply about whether the product is authentic or counterfeit. Sproxil sells the scratch panels and SMS bundles to manufacturers. Consumers pay nothing to use the service because the manufacturer pays for both the query and response messages.

Pretty neat way to use a simple technology for good!