GS1 Malaysia, in collaboration with Caring Pharmacy Retail Sdn Bhd and Duopharma Malaysia Sdn Bhd, championed a Healthcare Trial Project to demonstrate to all stakeholders the benefits of having full visibility in the movement of pharmaceutical products in their supply chain.

The project, “Pharmaceutical Products Authentication and Getting Started with Track & Trace: Manufacturer to Distributor to Retailer”, made full use of the GS1 2D DataMatrix’s ability to provide product visibility, authentication and verification throughout the entire supply chain. This is especially important to the stakeholders involved in this initiative in light of the many counterfeit pharmaceutical products currently flooding the Malaysian market and the high instances of theft while products are in transit.

The trial project has demonstrated to all stakeholders the effective track and trace of the products involved, from the manufacturer, to the distributor, and finally to the retailer, by using the GS1 2D DataMatrix containing both static information- such as GS1 identification keys- and dynamic information- such as the expiry date and batch number of the products in question.

This was demonstrated using GS1 Malaysia’s Member Product Databank, which contains product information from their members, as well as GS1 Malaysia’s Databank Mobile App, which allows users to scan a barcode to retrieve static product information from the Member Product Databank and display it in an easy to read format.