Today (Saturday 9 February) marks the day that the safety features of the Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) go live. This Europe-wide initiative will protect patients from fake medicines, making the medicines supply chain in Europe safer than ever.
Like all contractors, CCA members have been working hard towards full preparedness for FMD. Since 2016, the CCA has been working collaboratively with the pharmaceutical industry associations, wholesalers and the NPA to support SecurMed, the UK’s medicines verification organisation, as it prepared for today’s launch. The CCA is also an active member of the cross-sector community pharmacy UK FMD working group. This group brings together expertise from across the pharmacy sector as well as IT system suppliers, the NHS and government bodies to provide useful resources to support all contractors in the implementation of FMD.
The challenges around FMD have been well-documented, including the uncertainty over whether FMD will still be enforceable once the UK has left the European Union. We recognise that there are also practical challenges around the implementation of FMD, such as the limited number of packs currently in the supply chain with the correct safety features, and others with unique identifiers for purposes other than FMD.
We look forward to continuing to support our members, the FMD working group and SecurMed to ensure that the community pharmacy sector can deliver the benefits to patient safety that FMD offers.
To find out more about FMD and access useful resources, visit the SecurMed website or the FMD working group website.