In today’s global market, there is an immense quantity of medicinal products that can be packaged in different ways, with different brand names and different strengths and dose forms, varying from country-to-country. If confusion about the exact identification of these medicinal product can be alleviated, errors can be minimised or even eliminated.
The global solution for this problem rests on the ISO suite of standards on the Identification of Medicinal Products (IDMP) that help provide complete and accurate data about a medicinal product throughout its life cycle. The five foundational IDMP standards cover the following areas:
- The identification of substances that are used to manufacture a medicinal product;
- The identification of dose forms in which the medicinal product is manufactured (e.g., tablet, solution for injection, transdermal patch, or cutaneous gel);
- The expression of units of measure to specify the strength of the medicinal product;
- The identification of the pharmaceutical product, i.e. the unique combination of substances, dose form and strength;
- The specification of the medicinal product information, as marketed in a specified country or region, including the brand name and the type and quantity of packaging (e.g., 5 blisters of 10 tablets each, or 1 vial containing 100 ml solution).
In addition to these foundational IDMP standards, a medicinal product package also carries a barcode or datamatrix, often containing the GS1 Global Trade Item Number and the batch number and expiration date of the medicinal product. This datamatrix is easily scanned at the pharmacy selling the product or at the point of care where the product is administered to the patient.
