QR Codes On Drugs

The Health Ministry will expand mandatory QR code-based traceability to vaccines, antimicrobials, anti-cancer, narcotic and psychotropic drugs in a phased rollout

The government has expanded the ambit of the QR code-based track-and-trace mechanism to cover all antimicrobials, vaccines, anti-cancer medicines, and narcotic and psychotropic drugs, a move aimed at strengthening safeguards against counterfeit and substandard medicines. The Union Health Ministry has notified amendments to the Drugs Rules, 1945, bringing these categories of medicines under Schedule H2, which mandates the use of bar codes or Quick Response (QR) codes for product identification and verification. Under the amended provisions, manufacturers will be required to print or affix a barcode or QR code on the primary packaging label of the drug formulation, or on the secondary packaging where space constraints exist, the ministry said. The code will enable authentication and verification of medicines through software applications across the supply chain. According to the ministry, the QR code will contain key product information such as a unique product identification code, .

This follows CDSCO's move last year to strictly implement barcodes or QR codes on 300 top medicine brands such as Allegra, Calpol, and Dolo

Firms term DCGI move 'positive' as it aims at ensuring patient safety

According to the health ministry, this is being done to stop the misuse and illicit trade of these drugs

Batches manufactured on and after August 1 will have QR codes printed on the packaging of the selected 300 brands

The court asked the authorities to file their response to the PIL and posted the matter for next hearing on August 16

Govt finalises the draft notification issued in June

To curb the menace of spurious medicines, the government is finalising the process of mandating pharmaceutical companies to print bar code on the packages of 300 drug formulations so that information such as manufacturing licence and batch number can be accessed upon scanning. The amendments to Drugs and Cosmetic Rules, 1945 which, once approved, will come into force from May next year. "A sizable of the drugs mentioned in the list are mostly bought over the counter exposing people to the possibility of consuming counterfeit medicines. This amendment aims to prevent supply of fake medicines and ensure improvement in public healthcare," an official source told PTI. "A bar code or QR code will authenticate whether a particular drug is original or not," the official added. The Union health ministry had issued a draft gazette notification regarding the same in June seeking comments and feedback from the public. Based on the comments and further deliberations, the ministry is in the ..

In the first phase of the 'track and trace' mechanism, the QR codes will be printed on the primary packaging like the bottle, can, jar or the strip

The Union Ministry of Health has made amendments to the Drugs Rules, 1945, to implement this

Quick Response, codes can store data and is used for product identification, tracking and marketing