Solutions · Pharma

From 1 July 2027 the code stops being a marketing decision.

A serialised code per pack, carrying the eight fields the rule names, answering from a record you control.

The trade that scans here: chemists, stockists.

What a fake costs you here

Healthcare counterfeit perception rose from 20% in 2022 to 28% in 2025; 33% encountered a fake in the last year and 60% of those arrived through an online aggregator.
Source: ASPA–CRISIL, State of Counterfeiting in India 2025
48% check holograms and 40% check QR codes — more than any other sector — and would pay a 12% premium for guaranteed genuine.
Source: ASPA–CRISIL, State of Counterfeiting in India 2025

Who scans, in order

The people who handle it: chemist, pharmacist, stockist, distributor, patient.

01
Distributor
checks the shelf code
02
Chemist
checks before dispensing
03
Patient
scans the pack at home
04
Care desk
finds the batch by serial

FIG E.5Who scans, in order. The trade that decides the sale is the one the code has to reach.

The regulation

Yes, and it is dated. Rule 96 of the Drugs Rules requires a bar code or QR code on the primary or secondary label of Schedule H2 formulations, in force since 1 August 2023 for the listed top-300 brands (G.S.R. 823(E), 17 November 2022). G.S.R. 506(E) of 22 June 2026 extends it to all vaccines, all narcotic and psychotropic drugs and all anticancer drugs from 1 July 2027, and all antimicrobials from 1 July 2028. Bulk drugs have carried a QR since 1 January 2023 (G.S.R. 20(E), 18 January 2022). The code must carry eight named fields, including a unique product identification code, batch number, dates and licence number.

What we would print

Into the mono-carton artwork, or on a pre-printed carton label, for a manufacturer without line-integrated serialisation. Shelf code outside, hidden code on the inside face or under a glued flap. A folding carton gives no tamper-evidence by itself — that has to come from a seal across the flap or a shrink band. If you print and verify codes on the packaging line with a vision system, that is a different capability and we do not have it.

What each substrate can carry, and where a format cannot hide a second code: the substrate table.

How it runs

AVRA Verify.

AVRA Verify: Product Authentication.

AVRA Verify puts a unique, single-use code on every unit a brand ships, printed into whatever it already buys — a label, a carton, a pouch, a sleeve — by its own printer. The code is ten characters from a 31-character alphabet with no lookalikes — roughly 8 × 10¹⁴ possibilities — so it cannot be guessed. It is dead when it is printed and only starts answering when the print run passes QC and the batch is activated, which is why a leaked print file or a press overrun verifies nothing. A consumer opens the camera, scans, and reads a plain verdict in under two seconds with no app and no login. Where the pack can hide a second code there are two: a shelf code anyone can check before buying, and a hidden code — under a scratch panel, a cap seal, a carton flap or the inside web of a pouch — that only the buyer can reach.

How AVRA Verify works →

The objection you have

“Does AVRA make me H2 compliant?”

We will not answer that yes. The rule names eight data fields and a code “to facilitate authentication”. AVRA issues a unique per-unit code and carries the batch fields. Whether your implementation satisfies the rule is a question for your regulatory counsel, and any vendor who tells you otherwise on a web page is selling you a risk. What we will do is show your team exactly what our code carries and let them judge.

Where to start

Mid-size makers of antimicrobials and oncology formulations, newly in scope from 2027 and 2028, without an existing serialisation vendor.

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It is normal here

The mandate itself. Additionally, an industry study names Sun Pharma, Mankind, Abbott and Zydus as implementing QR to comply — an interested party's summary, not a regulator's statement.

Source: ASPA–Accenture 2025

What every industry asks first

Will my printer have to change anything?: No new press and no new software on the line. The code is one more element in the artwork your printer already runs — on a label, a carton, a pouch or a sleeve. The one requirement is a matte, light area under the code, because a phone camera cannot read through a glare.
Does the buyer need an app?: No. A plain phone camera opens the verdict page; there is nothing to install and no login. A reward claim or a warranty registration happens in the same browser, with a phone number and a one-time code.
Do we have to change our packaging?: No. The code goes into what you already buy, printed by the supplier who already prints it. Where the pack can hide a second code — under a scratch panel, a cap seal, a carton flap or the inside of a pouch — it runs Dual Code; where it cannot, it runs single mode, and we say which.
How long until it is live?: Your printer's account and first credits on day one, your brand and product the same day, a test batch of 200 on day two — then your press schedule. A batch goes live the day it passes QC and is activated, so the slowest step is the press, not the software.

Print one batch and scan it yourself.

The fastest way to judge this is a sheet of real labels and a phone.

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Trust, made visible.

connect@avrascan.com · +91 91737 47583 · Navacara Infotech, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India