Along with the QR code, the government may also soon launch a portal where the customers can feed the unique ID of the medicines and check for their authenticity.
To control the sales of fake drugs, the Ministry of Health has now mandated a compulsory quick response (QR) code. In a notification dated 18th January 2022, the government has made codes on the label mandatory at each level of packaging on Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) to facilitate tracking and tracing of the products. The new rule will be effective from 1st January 2023.
Over the years, there have been several reports of counterfeit drugs in the market. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in low and middle-income countries about 10 percent of medical products are substandard.
In March last year, the health ministry asked the department of pharmaceuticals (DoP) to shortlist 300 drug brands that can be included in the implementation of mandatory QR codes.
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had identified the list of 300 drugs, which include widely used medicines, such as painkillers, contraceptives, vitamins, blood-sugar, and hypertension medicines.
According to Authentication Solution Providers’ Association (ASPA), incidents of spurious and substandard drugs from 2020 to 2021 was up by 47 percent. During the COVID-19 peak, incidents of spurious and falsified (SF) medical were observed in 23 out of 29 States and seven Union Territories.
“The pharma industry has year after year emerged as one of the top targets for bad actors in regard with spurious and substandard products. This highlights the great health risks to which our citizens are exposed. This is a huge threat to the overall wellbeing of our citizens as well as a great threat to brand equity earned globally by our country,” Nakul Pasricha, President, ASPA told Financial Express.com.
Source : Financial Express.com.