Falsified Medicines (FMD)

FMD Changes - PHOENIX Returns

The Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) came into force on 9th February. This legislation triggers major changes within the pharmaceutical industry.

To help prepare you and your team for the introduction of FMD we have guidance around changes you will see in the PHOENIX supply chain, useful resources in the shape of FAQs and an FMD checklist and helpful information around pack changes.

Returns

There is no change to the returns collection process and your driver will continue to collect returns as today, however when processing we will be individually scanning each unit on our system to verify against the National Medicines Verification System (NMVS) before passing credit.

Therefore for the majority of returns you will see no difference as these pass the verification steps and credit is passed on as normal.

However if we receive stock back by error that has been decommissioned or dispensed on the NMVS we will no longer be able to approve credit and we will contact you to discuss credit rejection.

Please note - there will still be a lot of stock in circulation that does not have some or all of the new safety features, in fact in the first months of FMD the vast majority of packs will not carry safety features as any pack produced before the 9th February is not required to carry them.

These packs are safe to use in line with the expiry date and should not be returned to PHOENIX, returns for this reason will not be accepted.

FMD resources

Take a look at our 5 step FMD checklist to help you become FMD compliant: See checklist

We have compiled an FAQ guide to help answer any queries you may have: Read FAQ

FMD – useful information

How do you know if the pack is FMD compliant?

 

 

If the pack is FMD compliant each pack will contain an anti-tamper device, a 2d data matrix and the serial, batch and expiry in printed form as illustrated below.

 

 

The 2d data matrix code is usually printed on the end of the pack and can be white on black or black on white as pictured below.

What products are out of scope?

Non-prescription, P meds, GSL, non medicines such as foodstuffs and medical devices with CE markings as illustrated below.

There are two further types of barcode, linear and QR which are not related to FMD as pictured below.