Now identifying fake drugs will be easy! Govt issues notification to put mandatory QR code on APIs from THIS DATE – Zee Business report

Govt makes QR code mandatory on APIs: The government has made it mandatory to put QR codes on Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) used in medicines effective from January 1, 2023, Zee Business Special Correspondent Ambarish Pandey reported quoting a notification issued by the Ministry of Health.

With mandatory QR codes on API, the notification stated that this will help consumers to make a difference and identify between genuine and fake drugs. Moreover, it will also be easy to track the manufacturing information of drugs by the pharmaceutical company, it added.

With a mandatory QR code, information can also be easily gathered on whether there has been any tampering with the formula, the origin of the raw material, and the product dispatch details.

Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) approved this mandatory QR code proposal on APIs in June 2019. According to several reports, 20 per cent of the medicines made in India are fake, while according to a government report, the quality of 3 per cent of medicines is sub-standard.

Since 2011, the government has been trying to implement this system, however, due to repeated refusals from the pharma companies, no concrete decision could be taken on this, as per Pandey.

He added that the pharma companies were more worried about the fact that different government departments would issue different guidelines.

The companies demanded that a uniform QR code be implemented across the country, after which the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization prepared this draft in the year 2019. CDSCO had suggested to make the QR code mandatory for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API).

What is API

API stands for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients. These are the main raw materials for making intermediates, tablets, capsules and syrups. API plays a major role in the making of any medicine.