Gravure secure ink with enhanced anticounterfeiting protection in pharmaceutical packaging

Abstract Conventional anticounterfeiting solutions predominantly offer single-layer or secondary packaging-focused protection. Security ink formulations form the foundation of modern anticounterfeiting and brand protection technologies, providing optical and functional responses for product authentication. A dual-response gravure security ink formulation is presented, to strengthen the authenticity and traceability of pharmaceutical products. The stable ink exhibits authentication capability, producing both a visual luminescence and an audible beep response when illuminated using a 980 nm laser light and an IR taggant reader, respectively. The gravure prints on foil substrates exhibit functional stability, print durability, and good performance even under harsh environmental conditions for practical application. This gravure ink printed medicine strips, aligned precisely with UV-filtered inspection windows of a sealed secondary packaging carton could be rapidly and non-destructively verified, thereby ensuring packaging integrity during authentication. The security features being directly embedded onto gravure-printed primary foil strips enhance resistance to counterfeiting, tampering, and substitution at the individual-strip level. The formulated ink also demonstrates good printability on paper substrates, strong film adhesion, high photostability under prolonged UV exposure, and robust resistance to mechanical abrasion, supporting its suitability for broader real-world applications.