Some countries mandate the use of GS1 standards for drug product identification and package and case barcodes. The European Commission seems to tolerate GS1 standards, leaving it up to each member state to decide. Most use them, a few held onto their own national codes as long as they could. China is taking their time warming up to the GS1 Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) but it seems to be happening. That is, I think it’s happening. The United States has always had its own national numbering system for identifying drugs, known as the National Drug Code (NDC) (see “Anatomy Of The National Drug Code”). Because they are running out of numbers to identify new manufacturers (labelers), they are considering changes to the NDC that could break the ability to encode an NDC within a GTIN (see “How To Properly Define GTINs For Your NDCs”, “FDA New NDC Format Public Meeting” and “An Open Letter To The FDA: New NDC Format Public Meeting”). The USA is not the only country to be considering a break with GS1 standards. Indonesia will allow QR Codes on drug packages, and now there is a movement in the India government to move away from GS1 standards. What’s going on here? Can GS1 hold onto drug identification around the world? Let’s take a look.
Continue reading Can GS1 Hold Onto Drug Identification Worldwide?
There is a long-running tug-of-war going on between GS1 and national governments around the world over how exactly to identify medical products, whether devices or pharmaceuticals. National governments regulate those products to maximize the health of their citizens and so they take a natural interest in how they are identified. They want to eliminate all ambiguity between products within their market. They need to be able to tightly grant market authorization, revoke it and oversee recalls when warranted. To do that effectively, they need a way of clearly and concisely referencing a given product. That same way of referencing the product should also be used for patient education and for healthcare professional prescribing. 
Almost everyone agrees that GS1’s 
