India News | Community Social Media Platform Seeks Implementation of Systems-driven Tracing of Critical Drugs

New Delhi, Jul 18 (PTI) Community engagement and social media platform LocalCircles on Saturday wrote to the Centre underlining the need for implementing serial number, barcode and systems-driven traceability method for critical drugs and vaccines to prevent their black marketing.

Earlier this month, LocalCircles had raised concerns regarding black marketing and overpricing of Remdesivir, following which the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) asked the drugs controllers in states and Union Territories to instruct enforcement officials to maintain strict vigil to prevent black marketing and sale of the anti-viral injection above the maximum retail price.

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In the letter to the DCGI, the chairman of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority and the Secretary of the pharmaceuticals department, LocalCircles suggested making mandatory for pharmaceutical manufacturers to implement serial number, barcode and systems-driven end-to-end traceability and tracking for critical drugs and vaccines.

The letter states a unique serial number must be mandatorily put on every vial of medicine by the manufacturer along with a barcode which must be scanned at every step of the supply chain -- starting from shipping from the manufacturer to when the medicine is issued by a retailer to a hospital or patient.

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The final issuance should be such that it requires Aadhaar number of the actual patient and finally a digital signature by the doctor administering the drug or the vaccine. In such a system, since all the scanning devices are connected to the same central system, one would know where every vial is in the supply chain, the letter stated.

Such a system must not only be used for delivering drugs and vaccines but also for tracking unused medicines and directing them back to the stockist for issuance to another patient. With low cost of technology, the expenditure would be well under a rupee per vial, it said.

"The government should define this end-to-end traceability process and then standardise it so that before a licence is granted for manufacturing or importing a critical drug or vaccine prone to shortages, the pharmaceutical manufacturer or importer must demonstrate that such an end-to-end traceability process exists and will be implemented with the supply," LocalCircles said in the letter.

"If we, as a nation, can define and standardise this process as a learning from the remdsevisir black marketing incident, I feel we will be in a much better place to avoid the same when the COVID-19 vaccine does come out," it added.

To prevent black marketing and overcharging of remdesivir, India's drug regulator has asked manufacturers to set up a helpline for patients or their family members to contact if the drug is not available in the market or they are being overcharged and also put on their websites details of distributors and supply chain.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)