Government to consult on barcodes for medicine packaging ‘in due course’

The government will consult on barcode requirements for medicine packaging ‘in due course’ as part of a drive to strengthen the UK’s medicine supply chain, a health minister has said.

Dr Zubir Ahmed told a parliamentary reception hosted by the Company Chemist’s Association (CCA) that ‘the government intends, in due course, to consult on the types and use of barcodes that may be required on medicines packaging’.

Dr Ahmed said that this was in response to the recent House of Lords report into medicine shortages’ which identified better data and real-time visibility of stock as key to boosting supply chain resilience.

He added that the UK does not take a ‘passive approach’ to medicine shortages, referring to last summer’s plan for managing a robust and resilient supply of medicines and closer collaboration across the government, NHS and industry.

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And Dr Ahmed said that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is 'moving at speed' to make it's processes more flexible to enable timely action when shortages arise.

He added: ‘A strong proportion of regulation underpins medicine supply, protecting patient safety while enabling timely action when shortages arise. The MHRA, I am pleased to say, is moving at speed to improve the flexibility of its processes while maintaining high standards.’

However, other speakers at the event raised concerns that low medicine pricing in the UK is leading to an ‘erosion of resilience’ in the supply chain due to suppliers prioritising places that pay more.

Sadik Al-Hassan, chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on pharmacy, said medicine shortages have become a ‘chronic structural challenge for the NHS and for pharmacy’.

He identified two possible solutions to this problem: invest in medicines pricing and strengthen the community pharmacy network.

Mr Al-Hassan added: ‘For decades, medicine prices have been driven down and now they are too low. When the UK pays less than other countries, global manufacturers will prioritise supply elsewhere.

‘The geopolitical events of recent years and months have shown us, sharply and unmistakably, the cost of fragile supply chains: lives. Medicine is not an optional commodity.’

He added that community pharmacy is an essential part of the supply chain, dispensing more than a billion NHS medicines every year, and stressed the need for more funding for the sector.

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Clare Pelham, chief executive of the Epilepsy Society, said that the UK needed a ‘just in case’ rather than a ‘just in time’ mentality in relation to critical medicines in order to avoid preventable deaths.

She urged the government to compile a critical medicines list and build resilience around the supply of those medicines, as recommended by the House of Lords report.

Ms Pelham said: ‘We all know that medicine is life sustaining and life saving but for people with cliff edge conditions like epilepsy – and that’s 600,000 people in this country – you may only need to miss one dose of your medication to have a seizure, and run the risk of sudden death.’

Julian Beach, interim executive of the MHRA, said that the agency is working to speed up regulatory decisions that can ease supply problems.

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He stressed, however, that the MHRA ‘will not compromise on safety, quality and efficacy’, and that wider supply chain issues must be tackled in parallel.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) recently warned that staffing cuts at integrated care boards (ICBs) and wider NHS reorganisation risks losing the local expertise needed to tackle medicine shortages.

The RPS’s report said that system-wide reorganisations risk the loss of 'local links and expertise' that support collaborative working to manage shortages.