Marina Slobodnychenko, legal expert of the Ministry of Health on drug labeling, said that in January 2021, Ukraine will introduce mandatory drug labeling with a special code for certain categories of drugs.
She noted that starting from 2023, such a code will be mandatory for all medicines in the country, which will protect consumers from counterfeiting.
“The mandatory labeling should be introduced in Ukraine not for all medicines at once, but systematically, in stages from January 2021 to the end of 2022. This will take into account the manufacturer’s opinion on those drugs that must be mandatory for labeling,” the legal expert said.
According to Slobodnychenko, at the next stage (from 2023), labeling will become mandatory for all medicines in Ukraine, including those that are imported and manufactured by Ukrainian companies, in order to protect consumers from counterfeit products.
The pilot project starts from September 1, and will last by the end of 2020. At this time, the Ministry of Health should approve the list of project participants and the list of drugs that will take part in the first trial stages of the introduction of drugs with special markings – a 2D code on the package. In addition, during this time, a system of interaction between all participants – manufacturers, pharmacies, distributors, should be established, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
“The manufacturers will determine themselves which drugs will be included in the pilot project and which categories they consider the most risky. The Ministry of Health consider the “Affordable Medicines” as priority [according to the state program – ed.] but this does not mean that other medicines cannot get into the pilot project,” the expert said.
According to her, the labeling on the packs of drugs will be similar to a QR code that will contain information about the manufacturer, expiration date, etc. The code means that the drug is registered in a single system.
As The Journalist reported, more than 1 mln Ukrainians received medicines using e-prescriptions.
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