India is cracking down on fake medicine using QR codes. Here’s how

Want to find out if your medicine is real or fake? Now, you can do so with a simple scan of a QR code. Three-hundred top medicine brands will now carry QR codes on their packaging – allowing customers to verify the authenticity of the drugs they are purchasing. But how does this work? And why is this happening? Let’s take a closer look:   How does it work? According to News18, customers aren’t required to download any app on their phone.

They can simply scan the QR code on the packaging – like they would a restaurant menu.

If details of the drugs do not come up or some of the information does not match, this is a sign that the drug may be fake or counterfeit. “The scan from your phone camera will provide the below basic information,” a top pharma company official told News18. “If details are not found or a mismatch is noticed, the consumer can inform the manufacturer of the product by writing on the email ID or call the customer care number given on the drug packet at his home.” According to CNBC, packaging on big name brands such as Calpol, Dolo, Saridon, Combiflam, antibiotics like Azithral, Augmentin, Ceftum, anti-allergy drug Allegra and thyroid drug Thyronorm will have QR codes. Packaging on anti-diabetics Mixtard and Glycomet-GP, antibiotics Augmentin and Monocef, and gastro medicine Pan will also carry the QR codes, as per The Times of India.

The top 300 brands taken altogether comprise Rs 50,000 crore of the pharma retail market.

According to ABP Live, the QR code when scanned should display:

• 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
• Manufacturing licence number.

As per News18, the Department of Pharmaceuticals, which comes under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, is behind the move. Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) will enforce the new standards. The Centre had on 17 November listed the names of top medicine brands that needed to have a QR code from 1 August, as per ABP Live. The notification stated, “The manufacturers of drug formulation products as specified in Schedule H2 shall print or affix Bar Code or Quick Response Code on its primary packaging label or, in case of inadequate space in primary package label, on the secondary package label that store data or information legible with software application to facilitate authentication.” Why is this happening? The Centre is aiming to filter out of the market sub-standard and counterfeit drugs as well as look after the health and safety of the public. “The pharma industry has year after year emerged as one of the top targets for bad actors in regard with spurious and substandard products,” Nakul Pasricha, president, Authentication Solution Providers’ Association, told Financial Express.com. [caption id=“attachment_12949142” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The World Health Organisation has estimated that around ten per cent of drugs are substandard in low-and-middle-income nations.[/caption] “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.” The World Health Organisation has estimated that around ten per cent of drugs are substandard in low-and-middle-income nations.

But some experts put that figure even higher.

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As Vivek Sehgal, director general, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) told Financial Express.com a 2019 report from the US Trade Representative office stated that up to 20 per cent of pharmaceuticals supplied in India are counterfeit. “In 2018, the Central Drug Standard Control Organization estimated that about 4.5 per cent of all generic drugs in the Indian market were substandard. We as an industry need to be cognizant of the spurious drugs harming patient lives and work closely with the government to keep strong regulations in place which shall prevent the production and circulation of such drugs and put a halt at every juncture from the production right through the supply chain,” Sehgal added. Experts say the move will empower both consumers and companies “The application of QR Codes makes it easy to flag potential counterfeits in the system for review by a human analyst,” Pasricha added. While India is known as the pharmacy of the world, the country has grappled with sub-standard or fake medicine.

The WHO earlier claimed that a third of the spurious drugs sold around the world come from India.

In March alone authorities have cancelled or suspended licences of some domestic drug companies as part of action taken against 76 pharmaceutical firms for selling adulterated or fake products, as per Reuters. But that image has been dented by the death of at least 70 children in Gambia and 19 children in Uzbekistan last year linked to drugs made by India-based pharmaceutical companies. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya confirmed a crackdown but did not give details of companies against which action had been taken. “There are more than 10,500 pharma companies in the country. Companies who make spurious medicine will not be spared,” Mandaviya told reporters at an event. With inputs from agencies