QR code antidote to spurious drugs kicks in today

The QR code remedy to the menace of spurious drugs has arrived. In order to root out the scourge of spurious medicines, Drugs Control General of India, the country’s top drug regulator body has said that QR codes and bar codes has to be strictly implemented on 300 common and mass-circulated medicine brands such as Ecosprin, Corex, Thyronorm, Calpol, Dolo, Allegra, Meftal Spas from Tuesday, August 1, 2023.

All stocks of the medicines in the list manufactured after this date have to carry QR codes mandatorily.

From analgesics to vitamin supplements, from contraceptives to blood-sugar medicines, the new rule applies to a wide range of medicines.

Failure to adhere to this direction will invite strict penalties. DCGI has also directed associations of pharma companies to advise member companies not to disobey.

The QR code on the pack will serve as a product identification code. It will store a lot of information – the manufacturing license number, the name and address of the manufacturer, the date of manufacture, the batch of manufacture, date of expiry, and the generic name of the contents.

A communication from Central Drugs Control Organisation read, “Any batch of brands of the drug formulations as specified in the notification which has been manufactured on or after 1 August 2023, irrespective of the location of the manufacturing site, shall have the Barcode or QR code on its label as per the said government notification. It is mandatory to print/affix QR code on the 300 brands of the drug formulations. However, if any manufacturer voluntarily wants to affix/print Bar code or QR code for any other brand, he is free to do so…. It is applicable to all the indigenous as well as foreign manufacturers who are manufacturing these brands or drug formulations for marketing in the country.”

Earlier, the health ministry had directed the department of pharmaceuticals to draw up a list of top 300 drugs for implementing this rule.

Earlier a few companies did print QR codes. But in the absence of a regulation, it remained a sketchy and voluntary effort with no uniform industry-wide practice.

According to the drug regulator, the products should be ideally imported with bar codes or QR codes affixed on the label. “However, barcode or QR code may be affixed on the label in the country after obtaining the permission from the Licensing Authority as required under the Drug Rules, 1945,” the communication further stated.

Global concern about contaminated drugs from India led the government in June to slap show-cause notices to as many as 71 drug manufacturers. Action was taken against 18 of these manufacturers.