Barcodes, QR codes on 300 top selling medicines to pull the plug on fake drugs in market

The Centre may soon ask drugmakers to print or affix bar codes or QR codes on the packets of medicines to help find out and trace genuine drug products, News18.com has learnt.

The move holds relevance as it will eliminate the challenge of counterfeit products or fake medicines being sold in India.

According to an earlier estimate by the World Health Organization (WHO), around 35 per cent fake drugs sold globally come from India.

These brands would include the top-selling popular medicines in the Indian pharma market such as Allegra, Dolo, Augmentin, Saridon, Calpol, and Thyronorm among others.

How will barcoding work?

In the draft notification issue in June, the government said the manufacturers of the formulation products will print or affix bar codes or quick response codes on their primary packaging label and on the secondary package label that store data or information legible with software applications to facilitate authentication.

The stored data or information shall include a unique product identification code, proper and generic name of the drug, brand name, name and address of the manufacturer, batch number, date of manufacturing, date of expiry and manufacturing license number.