HDMA's Guidelines for Bar Coding in the Pharmaceutical Products Supply Chain discusses the use of the National Drug Code on bar code labels, bar coding strategies at various packaging levels (i.e. case, pack, unit, etc.), use of symbologies and human-readable text in bar codes, case marking and labeling strategies, bar code quality standards and scanner/data hardware requirements. In following the specifications included in the Guidelines, drug manufacturers and labelers will help realize additional efficiencies in distribution by standardizing the data presented on pharmaceutical bar codes. The use of highly reliable bar codes ensures greater product visibility in the channel, error reductions, automated data capture throughout the supply chain and improved patient care.

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Medication Errors and Patient Safety: the Bar Code Connection - Released March 2004
A second phase of the bar code initiative, is being made possible by a grant from Ortho Biotech Products, L.P, Centocor, Inc., Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, L.P., McNeil Consumer and Specialty Pharmaceuticals, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., and Scios, Inc. It features a prioritized Rx product target list for bar coding to improve medication errors and patient safety. The project assesses current drug utilization rates, reviews the nature of current reported errors, and investigates which products are generally available in unit dose and unit of use packaging. As in the earlier bar code survey report, results will be useful to all constituents in the distribution system since improving medication errors will be an industry-wide effort.

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2009-2010 HDMA Factbook
Order the 2009-2010 HDMA Factbook for analyses, trends and easy-to-use demographic and benchmarking data on specialty distribution practices for biotechnology products. The Factbook includes information on distributors handling temperature-sensitive products, the number of products requiring special handling and the registered handlers of controlled substances.

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