How to verify the authenticity of a medicine: ways and advice

The pharmaceutical market is growing very rapidly, a large number of new drugs appear, which do not always correspond to the claimed composition, may be substandard or completely false. Therefore, it will be superfluous to know how to verify the authenticity of the medicine so as not to pay money for simple chalk or glucose.

Signs of a counterfeit drug

Falsification will always differ from the original, so it can be recognized by the following indicators:

• The cost of the drug sharply differs from the average price for the city, is too low;
• The packaging is made of thin cardboard, the colors and inscriptions are pale, indistinct, possibly blurred;
• Barcode, series and number are poorly read, greased in several places;
• The instruction is more like a photocopy than on a sheet printed in a printing house;
• It is worth paying attention not only to the quality of printing recommendations, but also how it is stacked: in a fake instruction can be separated from the drug, in the original facility, the vial or plates with tablets divide it clearly in half;
• Series, date of issue, expiration date on the package and the preparation do not completely coincide or differ by one digit.

Methods of authenticity verification

If the purchased product is in doubt, has at least one of the listed characteristics, then it is worth knowing how to verify the authenticity of the medicine, what methods for this exist. The present tool or not, can be determined by the following methods:

• Ask the pharmacist for the relevant product quality certificates , invoice and declaration for him. According to these documents on the site Roszdravnadzor you can check whether the drug is registered in the system.
• By barcode - one of the effective ways to determine falsification, is made by arithmetic summation of all digits, the sum of which must coincide with the control number.
• By series, number and name of the drug through the portal "kachestvo.rf" or the site of Roszdravnadzor.

How to verify the authenticity of a medicine using a barcode

Any registered and legally produced product has a special barcode, which consists of a set of numbers. Such labeling of products allows you to know the authenticity of the drug. In each digit, the data on the producer country, enterprise, product, its properties, color, size are encrypted, the last number is a control one, it allows to check the originality of the medicine.

To calculate the check digit, you need to perform the following arithmetic calculations:

• First add up all the numbers that are on even positions, that is, 2, 4, and so on;
• The sum obtained from the first paragraph must be multiplied by 3;
• Then add the numbers standing at odd places: 1, 3, 5, etc., except for the control number;
• Now it is necessary to summarize the data obtained in points 2 and 3 and discard tens of this amount;
• From 10 take away the figure, which was obtained at point 5, the final result must coincide with the control number.

For a better understanding of how to verify the authenticity of a medicine using a barcode, the following example of calculations with code 4606782066911 can be cited:

• 6 + 6 + 8 + 0 + 6 + 1 = 27;
• 27 x 3 = 81;
• 4 + 0 + 7 + 2 + 6 + 9 = 28;
• 81 + 28 = 109;
• 10 - 9 = 1.

On the basis of these calculations, the control and final figure coincided and equal 1, therefore, the product is genuine.

Mismatch of the obtained data indicates that the product was produced illegally, it is falsified.

How to verify the authenticity of a medication by series and number

Another way to check the drug is to reconcile its main data: names, series and numbers. Roszdravnadzor gives the population the opportunity to control the authenticity of medicines through their website, which publishes information on pre-clinical and clinical drug testing, as well as information on the results of this activity.

In addition, you can check the medicine through the portal "quality.rf", where there is all the necessary information related to the preparations: about the producers, important news about the state proposals and solutions in the field of medicine, about the quality of the drugs presented in the Russian pharmaceutical market.

The portal "quality.rf" has a section that helps to answer the question about how to verify the authenticity of the medication on the online series. To do this, go to the "Quality Control" catalog and enter the required data, after which a tablet will appear with a decision on whether to permit or prohibit the release of the drug.

How not to buy a counterfeit?

In order not to purchase a counterfeit, the following recommendations should be considered:

• Buy medicines only in the pharmacy network, do not take drugs from the hands, from distributors, in small kiosks or stalls, on the Internet;
• It is not necessary to purchase funds without prescribing a doctor, on the advice of a pharmacist;
• It is recommended to ask the pharmacist for a certificate of quality, to compare the information indicated in it with that contained on the package of the drug;
• It is better to refrain from buying an advertised product, since there is a high probability of getting caught on a fake.

Where should I go if a counterfeit is found?

Considering the question of how to verify the authenticity of a medicine, it is necessary to tell where to go, if the purchased drug is in doubt, it has several distinct signs of forgery, the tool has not passed any of the ways to identify the original. In this case, the medicine must be subjected to laboratory tests that can confirm or disprove the falsification.

There are scientific centers in almost all regions of Russia, you can find out about their whereabouts on the website of Roszdravnadzor. To do this, go to the "Drugs" catalog, select the "Quality control of medicines" rubric, where in the "Reference information" section all accredited laboratories operating on the territory of the Russian Federation are listed.

To clarify the conditions for carrying out the examination it is recommended to contact the necessary laboratory. In addition, it is necessary to bring information about the counterfeit medicine to the attention of the territorial body of Roszdravnadzor.

Thus, if you find any signs of counterfeit, it is important to know how to verify the authenticity of the medication by series, number, barcode, and where to go if the product has not been tested for originality.