Falsified Medicine Directive explained

Summary

As global trade and the Internet keep on growing it has become much easier for people to pass goods off as genuine. Counterfeiting in medicine products is becoming more prevalent and countries are now adopting systems to protect the legitimate supply of products to protect the industry and importantly the patients.

The EU-wide falsified medicines directive means all medicines have a unique code that must be tracked, verified and decommissioned when dispensed to a patient. Read about the impact of Brexit on this for GP practices.

The UK Government agreed to implement the EU’s FMD (falsified medicines directive) from 9 February 2019, this meant GP practices had to demonstrate compliance.

The UK FMD Working Group for Community Pharmacy has issued an update on the FMD. Now that the UK has left the EU and the transition period ended on 31 December 2020, some regulatory requirements will no longer apply.

However, certain EU legislation will continue to have effect in Northern Ireland under the Northern Ireland protocol.