Crown Agents has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Uzbekistan to collaborate on implementing digital solutions that will eliminate fraud across the health supply chain and introduce greater transparency.

The agreement signed at the 24th Uzbek-British Trade and Industry Council’s Conference in Tashkent, will see the application of Smart Track, a new track and trace technology developed by Crown Agents’ technical partner Evoteq, that will safeguard against counterfeited products entering and leaving the country and monitor the movements of goods.

Crown Agents and Evoteq will collaborate with the National Chamber of Healthcare Innovation of Uzbekistan to test the new system across a sample of health supply chains. These will include high street retailers, private and government run hospital pharmacies, local and international pharmaceutical companies, a wholesaler and a distributor.

The Government of Uzbekistan’s decision to implement the pilot is aligned to its broader aims to roll out digital technologies across a range of markets and sectors that will bolster the economy and attract greater foreign investment. The track and trace system will enable the government to meet international mark and serialisation standards that will allow local manufacturers to access global markets and incentivise foreign manufacturers to do business with the Uzbek pharma market.

Crucially Smart Track will help guarantee that Uzbekistan’s citizens gain access to safe and high-quality drugs and represents a step forward in the global fight against counterfeited drugs which the WHO estimates leads to over a million deaths globally each year.

The successful application of digital technologies across the health supply chain sector in Uzbekistan – Central Asia’s most populous nation – will set the bar high for the entire region as no such system has been implemented before.

Commenting on the opportunity for collaboration with the National Chamber to combat counterfeiting across the health supply chain and other sectors, Crown Agents’ Regional Director for East and Central Asia, Olga Silvestrova said:

“We are delighted to get so much interest in our health supply chain solution from the Government of Uzbekistan. The MoU is just the first step of our long-term cooperation and Crown Agents’ presence in the country. We are looking forward to working together with the relevant authorities on the implementation of the State Digitalisation Strategy in all sectors including healthcare system.”

Learn more about Crown Agents’ work in Central Asia and for more information about our work in Uzbekistan contact Regional Manager Larissa Kokareva at larissa.kokareva@kg.crownagents.com