Annual report 2018

34 | Galenica annual report 2018 Sustainability coverage Pharmaceutical manufacturer Alloga Galexis Patient Pharmacies Amavita Coop Vitality Sun Store Product flow European database Serialisation Verification Data transmission Verification Dispensing SMVS National database National database Swiss database Controlled disposal of original packaging Blistering companies such as Medifilm face particular chal- lenges with regard to falsified medicines and the EU direc- tive. Markus Meier, Head of Medifilm, explains: “We buy medicines in the original packaging, open them and then repack the medications. The trust of our customers is all the more important because medicines are not delivered in their original packaging so they do not have a tamper- evident closure or a Datamatrix code as required by the EU Falsified Medicines Directive.” Medifilm is also implement- ing the EU directive in full. Medicines with a Datamatrix code can therefore be verified and deactivated in the data- base system before the original packaging is opened. This means that customers can be certain that only original products are repackaged. To ensure the original packaging can no longer be used, Medifilm carefully supervises the destruction and disposal of all packaging. Serialisation along the value chain The graphic shows how FMD affects the value chain of any prescription drug. At the start is the manufacturer who pro- duces the medicine and assigns a unique serial number to each pack. This is printed on the folding box in the form of a Datamatrix code. The information in the code is transmit- ted to the European database. This makes every pack unique. In addition, a tamper-evident closure is affixed. In the next step, the manufacturer delivers the medicine to Alloga. At the manufacturer’s request, Alloga scans the medicine’s Datamatrix code and checks its status. The med- icine then goes to Galexis, where it can be checked against the database again if necessary. The next identification check is carried out by the pharmacy assistant when the goods are received by the pharmacy. Final verification takes place before the medicine is dispensed to the patient. The phar- macist also has to deactivate the medicine in the database system after it is sold. Safe dispensing of the medicine is therefore recorded. Galenica