When you pick up a prescription or buy medicine from a pharmacy, you probably assume the product inside the package is exactly what the label says it is.

But somewhere in the world, counterfeit medicine is being manufactured, distributed, and sold to unsuspecting people. Some fake drugs contain the wrong ingredients. Others contain too little of the active ingredient—or none at all. And in some cases, counterfeit products can contain dangerous contaminants.

So how do authorities and pharmaceutical companies find them?

In this episode, we explore the hidden systems used to detect counterfeit and falsified medicines. We dive into pharmaceutical supply chains, laboratory testing, chemical analysis, packaging technology, serialization, tracking systems, regulatory enforcement, and international cooperation to understand how investig ...