E-drug: German coding system for expiry dates (cont'd)
------------------------------------------------------
Michel,
Responding to your message, the expiry dates *MUST* be there
somewhere on the outside. Look for something like "Verfalldatum"
or "Verf D" or something similar.
On the products you list:
Name Ch -B Reg Nr
FAKTU 290030 47975
If I am not mistaken this is a haemorrhoid cream.
PASPERTIN 4134086 P836
If I remember correctly, this is a drug used for hypotonus (of all
diagnoses).
BETAISODONA BE 950
Betadine (Solution?)
FLAMMAZINE 89403 VER Nr6505-12-310-5430
I think it's an antibiotic. The Versorgungsnumber, also NATO supply
code, tells me it is a drug (6505) manufactured in Germany (12). There
should be something like "Gewehrleistungsdatum" on the package.
This is not the expiry date but a date negotiated between the military
supply organization and the supplier. It *MUST* be there because the
computerized supply system of the German military picks the batches
nearing expiry to be removed from stocks.
BRAUNOVIDON 422264 ART-NR 650416/7
This sounds like Betadine (iodine) from a specific manufacturer.
MEGACILLIN 360CG M793
Long acting Penicillin.
ZINKOXID Dab 9 Ch-B N 202130 ART NR 171 03 76
Zinc Paste manufactured in accordance with German Pharmacopeia (ADB) 9.
None of these bear any sign of a date.
Ch-B stands for "Chargenbezeichnung" and means Batch Number. There
is no link between the "CH-B" and the expiry date. There is also no key of
the code to understand expiry dates of german products. Each company
makes its own.
Again, on the package or on the boxes, or both, there *MUST* be a
date. In fact it should even be on the folio in which the tablets come.
[Seems to me that this is quite a perfect example of an inappropriate
drug donation.
Indeed, hypotension drugs... I am quite sure the Ministry has studied the
Guidelines for Drug Donations, but they may not be in a position to
refuse donations. I think with the high German environment requirements
it is cheaper donating drugs than incinerating it in the regulated way.
Dr. Eberhard W. Lisse
Resident Medical Officer
Swakopmund State Hospital
Swakopmund, Namibia
<el@linux.lisse.na>
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.