PR: Medicine verification system (HUMVO) for the safety of Hungarian patients

The worldwide issue of falsified medication does not yet impose a serious threat in Hungary and the EU, says trade body.

“Due to strict regulations and legislatory monitoring no falsified or unauthorized medication has entered the legal drug supply chain in Hungary until now. This does not mean however, that obtaining locally unauthorized preparations would be impossible, but illegal trade is mainly restricted to the internet…As of next February a pharmaceutical manufacturer specific EU directive will come into effect: every packaging unit of prescription medication will have to be equipped with an individual identification number. This predicts a highly complicated IT system, and to operate such, every EU member state was obligated to establish a national organization, which is called HUMVO (Hungarian Medicines Verification Organization Non-profit Ltd. in Hungary. The new system will control 17 billion units of medication in the EU on a yearly basis, which come from 4600 different manufacturing facilities and will be released at 177,000 different end points.”

www.vg.hu/manager-magazin/szinte-mar-nincs-orvossag-amit-nem-hamisitanak-839207/

AIPM's opinion:

As one of the main stakeholders and supporters of HUMVO, the Association of Innovative Pharmaceutical Manufacturers is committed to the cause that Hungarian patients are only provided with original and beyond doubt safe medication in local pharmacies. The system under development will become operational on 9th February 2019 and will oversee all prescription medication from the point of entering the legal supply chain until the sale to the end consumer, the patient.

The establishment of this new and unique medicine verification system is an initiative based on the most rigorous legal and professional requirements and demands serious sacrifices from all involved parties. AIPM is a proud and active participant of this exemplary development for patient safety and is adamant, that this hard work and substantial investments will come to fruition: the safety control over the medication purchased by Hungarian patients will be stronger than ever.

This is why beyond the hardship and necessary sacrifices of the development of the system it is of utmost importance for us to raise awareness among patients that they should only purchase their prescribed medication from an official source: the pharmacy. Only this way can they be assured that the preparation is safe, contains the proper and quality active substance(s) and other ingredients. With the new serialized medicines, equipped with a unique identification number everyone can be certain that they have purchased a product with the highest possible quality and safety. It is a fundamental and common interest of ours, which is fully supported by the newly established verification system: HUMVO.

Source: www.vg.hu