Manufacturers may scrap low-margin products to cover EU barcode costs

Some “low-margin products could be at risk” as manufacturers look to cover the costs of a new EU medicine scanning law, a representative body has told C+D. Under the falsified medicines directive (FMD), all community pharmacies in the UK will have to scan medicines at the point of dispensing from February 2019, as part of European anti-counterfeiting measures.The new legislation requires pharmacies to train staff and install scanners, while manufacturers will have to put new barcodes on their medicine packs.