India looking to serialisation to secure medicine exports?

India's Ministry of Commerce has been advised to implement a system of barcodes and mass serialisation for all exported pharmaceutical products, according to a news report.

The article published in Pharmabiz suggests that the Ministry has agreed to the proposal put forward by Pharmexcil, a trade group representing drug exporters, which would see barcodes introduced in the first instance and serialisation rolled in at a later date.

It is understood that industry will have one year to implement the barcoding system if the proposal is officially adopted by the government. Another aspect of the proposal - the use of an official hologram as an authentication feature - was not considered a sufficiently robust solution, says the article.

The overall objective of the exercise is to improve the visibility of India's pharmaceutical sector - a critical supplier of essential generic medicines for countries around the world - and shake off its image as a hub for counterfeit and substandard drugs.

In an earlier interview with SecuringPharma.com, Pharmexcil's executive director Dr. P. V. Appaji said the aim was to find a solution which was both technologically and economically feasible to implement for Indian exporters.

Pharmexcil was asked for comment on the latest development but had not responded by the time this edition went to press.


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