The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7193 p487-492
13 April 2002

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Medicines Control Agency (www.mca.gov.uk)
Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (www.abpi.org.uk)

ABPI opposes number plates for packs

The proposed "number plate" system for drug packaging is poorly-thought out and could put patient's lives at risk, Andrew Curl, deputy director general of the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry, said this week. "There is no evidence that current pack labelling has caused inappropriate drug administration or any patient deaths. The number plate system will make packs look more alike and could increase confusion," he said.

The APBI's remarks follow proposals from a working party set up by the Committee on Safety of Medicines (PJ, 1 September 2001, p286). The group says that packaging should carry a number plate of information, including brand and generic names, pharmaceutical form, strength, and route of administration.

The CSM has now considered the proposals and recommends that critical items of information should be located together on the pack and appear in the same field of view. A set of principles has been agreed by the CSM and are set out in the, as yet unpublished, March/April issue of the MCA publication Mail. The publication will be available on the MCA website (www.mca.gov.uk) next week.

A spokesman for the MCA said: "We are disappointed that, despite close involvement in ongoing discussions on this critical issue of safer medicines labelling, the ABPI have clearly misunderstood the concept of the number plate."

Dr Bob Calvert, chairman of the CSM working party, said that he challenged the ABPI's comments rigorously. "There has been widespread support for the proposals. The recommendations were based on the experience of a wide range of users of medicines and follows advice that has been adopted in Canada and the United States."

At the time the working party's proposals were put to the CSM, Professor Alasdair Breckenridge, chairman of the CSM, said: "We strongly support the concept of a number plate for all medicines."

But the ABPI is concerned that the number plate will predominate on drug packaging. Martin Anderson, commercial director, ABPI said: "The number plate concept sounds like a good idea but each pack would contain the same information in the same format." This would lead pharmacists to look for other visual cues when selecting a drug, which could cause confusion. "We need to look at the whole supply chain, particularly for critical products, rather than revising all medicines packs to a standardised form," he said.

Dr Calvert pointed out that the proposals stress that pack design will still need to be imaginative in the use of colour, text size and font selection to enhance differences in a product range.

The ABPI is also concerned that if the proposals for a number plate system are accepted they would only apply to products licensed through the Medicines Control Agency. "If changes are made, they should be based on European proposals," said Mr Anderson.

Currently, drug packaging is designed by pharmaceutical companies in consultation with the MCA.