EU introduces new safety features to protect citizens from falsified medicines

Medicines could be safer with the introduction of new obligatory features like a unique identifier and an anti-tampering device, the European Commission announced in a press release on Tuesday.

Such safety features would protect European citizens against the health threat of falsified medicines, which may contain the wrong dosage of ingredients or low quality active ingredients, said the press release.

The safety features would guarantee the medicine's authenticity for the benefit of patients and businesses, and would strengthen the security of the medicine supply chain, from manufacturers to distributors to pharmacies and hospitals, added the press release.

The act in question, published in the EU's Official Journal, supplemented the EU's falsified medicines directive, which aims to prevent falsified medicines from reaching patients, to allow EU citizens to buy medicines online through verified sources, and to ensure that only high quality ingredients are used for medicines in the EU.

The delegated regulation would enter into force three years after publication, according to the press release. Endit