In October, 7 new users have joined the Latvian medicines verification system (LZVS), thus a total of 1257 system end users have joined the system in Latvia and the safety of medicines can be verified by them.
Most LZVS users are pharmacies – 832 pharmacies are connected to the system. The system is also used by 358 medical institutions – hospitals, polyclinics, dental and general practitioners' practices, as well as 67 medicines wholesalers.
The medicines verification or safety testing system is maintained by the Latvian Medicines Verification Organization, and its aim is to prevent the possibility of falsified medicines from reaching consumers. The system has been implemented and since 9 February 2019 has been operating in more than 30 European countries.
The basic principle of the verification system is that each medicine packaging is marked with a unique code during the manufacturing process, and this code is checked just before the medicine is sold in a pharmacy or used in a medical institution. The system covers prescription medicines and one over-the-counter medicine, omeprazole.
The basis for the establishment of the verification system is the EU Falsified Medicines Directive (2011/62/EU) and the delegated regulation which defines detailed rules for the safety features appearing on the packaging of medicinal products for human use (EU 2016/161).