Fighting counterfeits: DRAP launches barcodes for drugs

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to tackle the sale of spurious drugs, the apex drug regulator has formally launched barcodes and provided specialized software and training to pharmaceutical companies across the country.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have now been mandated to emboss a barcode data matrix on all batches of their registered drug products by December 15, 2017.

According to a notification issued by the Drug Regulator Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) on June 15, all market authorization holders of pharmaceutical drugs are required to emboss a barcode on their products. Barcodes will be according to the standards of GS-I embedding Product identification code (GTIN), expiry date, batch number and price on the secondary packaging of drugs.

For this purpose, DRAP has developed an online portal called “Drug Regulatory Information System” and Pharma companies and market authorization holders of products will access this portal through a validated account; without any subscription fee.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2017.