Foreign and domestic drugmakers oppose new rules for drug labeling in Russia

All the drugs presenting on the Russian market will have to be labeled by a QR-code with the aim of preventing counterfeiting, according to recent statements of Denis Manturov, Russia’s Minister of Industry and Trade, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent.

The government believes that QR-Code is cheap and does not affect the price of drugs. In addition, it will not result in a significant increase of costs for producers, it is claimed.

However, an official spokesman of the Russian Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (RAPM), a trade association which unites both Russian and foreign drugmakers operating in the Russian market, has already criticized the latest state decision, believing that the introduction of the DataMatrix tag will be associated with lower costs for producers.