This week, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Health, and leading members of associations representing the interests of the pharmaceutical and pharmacy industries signed a Memorandum on Cooperation on the implementation of a national medicine verification system.
What is verification and why is it needed?
The medicine verification system provides for an introduction of a set of legal norms and a unified procedure for all participants to control the circulation of medicines in the country. Today, Ukraine is adopting European approaches to drug verification, which is another serious step towards European integration. Thus, the pharmaceutical industry will be as prepared as possible for trade within the single market with the EU and will strengthen the measures against counterfeit medicines.
How does the EU verification system work?
Manufacturers label the packaging of medicines with a special 2D digital code containing information about the product. After that, it is uploaded to the central repository, which is a secure storage server. Distributors scan medicines at various stages of supply to ensure they are authentic. Then pharmacies and hospitals also check each package at the final release to patients.
Why is this event significant?
The signing of the Memorandum is the beginning of the implementation of the relevant provisions of the new Law of Ukraine “On Medicines”, which has not yet entered into force but has set the course for even more active European integration of the industry. Moreover, it was really significant that the Memorandum united all market participants around itself with one goal: to create a National Medicines Verification Organization and build an effective and transparent medicine verification system that will become part of the European one.
