Aegate News

Aegate increases availability of patient safety service to 80% of Belgium pharmacies

Aegate, Belgium, October 16 2008, Belgium pharmacies are spearheading an approach to patient safety that has the potential to define Europe's drug-safety landscape of the future. With completion of integration of six pharmacy software products in the Belgian market, from next month Aegate's point of dispensing drug authentication service will be accessible by 80% of the pharmacies in Belgium.

Aegate is delighted to announce that Officinall is the most recent pharmacy software provider to partner with Aegate. Officinall joins Corilus's, ISA, Farmix, and Pharmawin, Farmad's Twin and Win as the sixth software platform that enables pharmacists to make a simple upgrade of their pharmacy software to enhance their pharmacy dispensing practices.

"Ensuring patients receive the highest quality medicines is the most important priority for Belgian pharmacists. The significant take-up of Aegate's drug authentication service indicates this is a tool that is fast becoming best practice within pharmacy," said Dr Guido Hoogewijs, General Manager of The Association of Belgium Pharmacists (APB).

With a tool in place to authenticate medicines at the point of dispense, scares such as the recent seizure of 2 million counterfeit medicines by customs officers in Zaventem need not affect good quality dispensing practices in pharmacy. This year alone, Belgian pharmacists have scanned more than 20 million packs of drugs using Aegate's unique patient safety authentication system.

Aegate recently submitted its authentication system to an independent audit by Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, which confirmed Aegate's authentication process to be 100 per cent reliable and an effective method to identify authentic, recalled, expired and suspicious drugs at the point of dispense.

"With both visibility and demand for Aegate's patient safety service increasing, it is crucial that pharmacists can install Aegate's service into their existing systems," said Jan De Poorter, President of the regional pharmacy association Kovag and Head of Officinall. "The agreement between Officinall and Aegate will enable even more pharmacies across Belgium to benefit from the service."

Gary Noon, CEO of Aegate, concludes "Belgium has shown that through the commitment of the Belgian pharmacists themselves and industry collaboration, protecting patients from potentially harmful medicines can be a very real and achievable goal for any country wishing to achieve patient safety."