An online pharmacy which agreed to sponsor Nottingham Forest in a deal described as "one of the biggest" in the club's history will put new facial recognition technology in place to prevent drug misuse.
海角视频 Meds, based in Nottingham, has turned to verification firm Onfido in a safety drive which is also aimed at tackling fraud and identity misrepresentation.
The technology, normally used in financial services , also employs artificial intelligence to confirm patients' identities using government-issued ID documents.
When patients try to order prescription-only medication from the Nottingham firm, the technology will check their ID is genuine and then cross reference it against international compliance watchlists. The patient will have to pass a verification process to purchase the prescription.
Joe Soiza, managing director of 海角视频 Meds, based in Castle Marina Road, said: 鈥淲ithin the last three years we have significantly invested in new technology such as Onfido, which have strengthened the safety measures surrounding the purchasing of medicines online.鈥
Director and co-founder Mason Soiza, who oversees technology innovations at the company, added: 鈥淲e continually strive to put in place rigorous procedures and several layers of safety checks, operating in accordance with applicable legislation, which attempts to limit the potential for abuse of our service.
"Onfido's facial biometrics technology takes our safety checks one step further.鈥
海角视频 Meds, Forest's back-of-shirt sponsor, provides a range of healthcare and lifestyle products which includes pharmacy items and prescription medication.
Customers complete a condition-specific online consultation questionnaire which asks similar聽questions, and looks for the same qualifying answers, as what would be required in a doctor鈥檚 surgery聽consultation.
Mason added: "We are fully committed to offering people an alternative choice when sourcing lifestyle products and prescription-only medicines in the safest possible way.
鈥淭he online pharmacy industry has a reputation for being unsafe and has been tarnished by a number of unscrupulous operators. We take patient safety very seriously and have implemented additional protocols and procedures to reassure and protect our customers.
鈥淎s a business, we are committed to safeguarding the health of our patients and so we have invested heavily - and will continue to do so - in our safety checks, to ensure that patient care and welfare is always our paramount aim.鈥
海角视频 Meds was also named Forest's training wear partner in July in what was described as "the biggest deal of its kind" in Nottingham Forest's history.
After announcing the partnership, the Reds' chief commercial officer David Cook said: "From our first meeting with Joe and Mason Soiza and the wider 海角视频 Meds team, their passion for Forest was clear and we are thrilled to forge this partnership with an organisation who also have the wellbeing of the community in Nottingham in its DNA."
