Overview
- The federal cabinet approved the nationwide Track & Trace system on Tuesday, June 2, by amending the Drug Labelling and Packing Rules, 1978 to enable digital tracing of medicines.
- Under the new rules, all manufacturers and importers must print standardized two-dimensional (2D) barcodes and unique serialisation data on every medicine pack so each product can be tracked through the supply chain.
- The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has been tasked to oversee implementation and to issue detailed technical guidelines to help industry comply with the new labeling requirements.
- Officials say the system will let regulators and consumers verify a medicine’s authenticity, expiry date and price digitally, but concrete timelines for deployment and mandatory compliance have not yet been set.
- Editorial and expert commentary warns that barcodes alone will not stop fake drugs and calls for complementary measures such as public batch alerts in local languages, qualified pharmacists at retail outlets, cold-chain audits and faster prosecutions to make the system effective.