Approximately 187 million prescription medicines dispensed in Latvia over seven years
09.02.2026
In 2025, nearly 30 million authentic prescription medicine packs were dispensed to residents through Latvian pharmacies and healthcare institutions. In total, over the seven years since the medicines verification system was introduced across Europe, approximately 187 million prescription medicines have been dispensed in Latvia.
The system has been protecting patients for seven years
9 February 2026 marks seven years since the medicines verification system began operating across Europe, including in Latvia. Its main aim is to ensure that patients receive only authentic and safe medicines. Over these seven years, around 187 million prescription medicine packs have been dispensed to residents through Latvian pharmacies and healthcare institutions.
Performance indicators for 2025
The Latvian Medicines Verification Organisation (LZVO) has compiled the 2025 performance indicators of the Latvian Medicines Verification System (LZVS), including data on transactions carried out in the system, end users, alerts, and their most frequent causes.
In 2025, a total of 117 million transactions were performed in the LZVS, of which 29.5 million authentic packs of prescription medicine were dispensed to public through pharmacies and healthcare institutions.
There are two types of transactions with packs of medicinal products – one is verification of the authenticity of the unique identifier on that pack; the other is decommissioning of the pack from the system. In pharmacies and healthcare institutions unique identifiers are decommissioned from the system when the medicine is supplied to the public.
By the end of 2025, the total number of LZVS end users was 1171, including 812 pharmacies, 58 wholesalers and 301 healthcare institutions.
Statistics from recent years indicate a stable situation in the Latvian medicines market - the volume of verified and dispensed medicines has not changed significantly. At the same time, the LZVS continues to evolve, and regular technical improvements enhance the system’s performance, security, and efficiency.
Alert notifications
The LZVS includes an alert notification system, which signals situations where, during the scanning of a medicine pack, the entered data do not match the data stored in the system.
In 2025, the proportion of alert notifications in Latvia reached 0.01% of the total number of transactions, which is considered a very good result. Investigations show that all alert notifications identified in Latvia were related to technical errors in scanner and/or software operation or to human error. Once these issues are resolved, the packs are successfully verified and decommissioned from the verification system.
The system guarantees safety, but the illegal market persists
As the head of the pharmaceutical department of the Health Inspectorate, Rihards Burmistris reminded in the publication “Likums un Taisnība”, residents must be both informed and critically minded: “Medicines are not a product you buy like shoes or a phone. Medicines are chemical substances that affect the body. The moment you step outside the legal framework, you are playing Russian roulette with your health.”
The full article is available here (an article in Latvian): https://jauns.lv/raksts/par-veselibu/692393-neveseliga-ticiba-brinumam-sabiedribas-pieprasijums-uztur-nelegalo-zalu-tirgu
Already in 2025, the LZVO repeatedly warned the public about the growing threats posed by the advertising and sale of illegal medicines online throughout the European Union. Illegally purchased products may not contain active substances at all or may contain harmful amounts of other substances. People who use such products face a very high risk of unexpected and severe health problems. More information: https://lzvo.lv/en/aktualitates/LZVO-warns-Rapid-increase-in-online-advertising-and-sale-of-counterfeit-weight-loss-medicines
The newspaper “Latvijas Avīze”, in its publication “From Steroids to ‘Slimming Injections’: How the Black Market for Counterfeit Medicines Operates”, highlights the key challenges. Although no counterfeit medicines have been detected in Latvia’s legal medicines market, problems arise in the illegal sphere - on various websites, online platforms, and other sources where people search for “something that works well” and often rely on unverified information.
Rihards Burmistris provides an example: “We have blocked six websites that offered semaglutide for purchase without a prescription and without information about the distributor. These were not pharmacy websites, yet people often fail to recognize whether a website is legal.” More details (an article in Latvian): https://lasi.lv/latvija-pasaule/ekonomika/no-steroidiem-lidz-tievesanas-injekcijam-ka-darbojas-viltoto-medikamentu-melnais-tirgus.36687
Inese Erdmane, Chairwoman of the Board of the LZVO, notes:
“The medicines verification system has now been in place for seven years. Together with colleagues from across Europe, we work to regularly update and improve the system’s technical functionality, ensuring a convenient, efficient, and fast medicines verification process for both pharmacies and hospitals, while at the same time guaranteeing patients that the medicines they purchase are authentic and safe. The LZVO team regularly reminds the public that prescription medicines should only be purchased from licensed pharmacies in order to avoid potentially dangerous offers online. The system protects patients and will continue to do so, however, the critical thinking and awareness of consequences of each individual are also essential, especially when it comes to one’s own health and the health of others.”
Thanks to the LZVS, prescription medicines dispensed in pharmacies and healthcare institutions are verified and authentic, ensuring that patients can feel confident the medicines they receive are genuine and contain the substances indicated on the packaging in the correct amounts.
