The pharmaceutical market is growing very rapidly, a large number of new drugs appear that do not always correspond to the declared composition, may be of poor quality or even fake. Therefore, it would be useful to know how to check the authenticity of the medicine so as not to pay money for simple chalk or glucose.
Signs of a counterfeit drug
A fake will always differ from the original, so it can be recognized by the following indicators:
- the cost of the drug differs sharply from the average price in the city, is too low;
- packaging is made of thin cardboard, colors and lettering are pale, fuzzy, possibly blurry;
- barcode, series and number are hard to read, smeared in several places;
- the instruction looks more like a photocopy than a printed sheet;
- it is worth paying attention not only to the print quality of the recommendation, but also to how it is folded: in a fake, the instruction may be located separately from the drug, in a genuine product, a bottle or plates withpills divide it clearly in half;
- series, release date, expiration date on the package and the drug do not completely match or differ by one digit.
Methods for verifying the authenticity of a medicine
If the purchased drug is in doubt, has at least one of the listed signs, then you should know how to check the authenticity of the medicine, what methods exist for this. The real remedy or not can be determined by the following methods:
- Ask the pharmacist for the appropriate product quality certificates, invoice and declaration for it. According to these documents, on the website of Roszdravnadzor, you can check whether this drug is registered in the system.
- According to a barcode - one of the most effective ways to determine counterfeit, is done by arithmetic addition of all digits, the sum of which must match the control number.
- By series, number and name of the drug through the portal "quality.rf" or the website of Roszdravnadzor.
How to check the authenticity of a medicine by a barcode
Any registered and legally produced product has a special barcode, which consists of a set of numbers. This labeling of products allows you to find out the authenticity of the drug. Each digit encodes data about the country of origin, enterprise, product, its properties, color, size, the last number is a control one, it allows you to check the originality of the medicine.
To calculate the check digit, you need to do the followingarithmetic calculations:
- first add up all the numbers in even positions, i.e. 2, 4 and so on;
- the amount received from the first item must be multiplied by 3;
- then add the numbers in odd places: 1, 3, 5, etc., except for the check number;
- now it is necessary to sum up the data obtained in points 2 and 3, and discard the tens of this sum;
- from 10 subtract the figure that was obtained in step 5, the final result must match the control number.
For a better understanding of how to check the authenticity of a medicine using a barcode, you can use the following calculation example with the code 4606782066911:
- 6 + 6 + 8 + 0 + 6 + 1=27;
- 27 x 3=81;
- 4 + 0 + 7 + 2 + 6 + 9=28;
- 81 + 28=109;
- 10 - 9=1.
Based on these calculations, the check digit and the end digit matched and equaled 1, therefore the product is genuine.
Inconsistency in the received data indicates that the product was produced illegally, this is a fake.
How to check the authenticity of a medicine by series and number
Another way to check a drug is to check its basic data: name, series and number. Roszdravnadzor provides the public with the opportunity to control the authenticity of medicines through their website, which publishes information about the inspections of preclinical and clinical trials of drugs, as well as informationresults of this activity.
In addition, you can check the medicine through the portal "quality.rf", where there is all the necessary information related to drugs: about manufacturers, important news about government proposals and decisions in the field of medicine, about the quality of drugs presented in Russian pharmaceutical market.
On the portal "quality.rf" there is a section that helps answer the question of how to check the authenticity of a medicine by a series online. To do this, go to the "Quality Control" catalog and enter the required data, after which a plate will appear with a decision to allow or prohibit the release of the drug.
How not to buy counterfeit?
In order not to purchase a fake, you must consider the following recommendations:
- buy drugs only in the pharmacy chain, do not take drugs from hands, from distributors, in small kiosks or stalls, on the Internet;
- do not purchase funds without a doctor's prescription, on the advice of a pharmacist;
- it is recommended to ask the pharmacist for a certificate of quality, 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, as there is a high probability of falling for a fake.
Where to contact if a counterfeit is found?
Considering 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 pronounced signs of a fake, the remedy has not passed any of the methods for identifying the original. In this case, the drug must be subjected to laboratory tests that can confirm or refute the counterfeit.
There are scientific centers in almost all regions of Russia, you can find out about the location of which on the website of Roszdravnadzor. To do this, go to the "Medications" catalog, select the "Quality control of medicines" section, where the "Reference information" sub-heading lists all accredited laboratories operating in the territory of the Russian Federation.
To clarify the conditions for the examination, it is recommended to contact the required laboratory. In addition, it is necessary to bring information about counterfeit medicine to the attention of the territorial body of Roszdravnadzor.
Thus, if any signs of counterfeiting are found, it is important to know how to check the authenticity of a medicine by series, number, barcode, and where to go if the product has not passed the originality check.
