There are huge range of possible solutions ranging from the very simple to the highly complex, from minimum cost to highly expensive and from fragile to highly secure against compromise. There is no single solution to every problem, and a secure strategy will certainly involve a mixture of technologies, often in combination. An overt feature should include a secure covert element for added security, and any one product may carry several different features on various levels of the pack and components to protect counterfeit.

As long as counterfeiters target medicines for illegal profit, a product with no form of anti-counterfeit marker represents a significant potential risk to public health and safety. Again, simple and widely used anti-counterfeit markers encourage counterfeiters to invest in engineering the technology, as is happen with holograms.

An industry wide working group may be established to define the standards, with representation from manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, pharmacists and healthcare practitioners. Consideration should be given to how access might be afforded to authorities such as customs, police and public health investigators, as well as ultimately to the customer.