Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, on 27 March, a press conference was held at the National Press Center of Uzbekistan on the topic: “Labelling of drugs is the first step to solving the problems of the drug market of Uzbekistan”, dedicated to the digital labeling of drugs in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

During the event, questions regarding the main objectives of drug labeling, the development of the system as a whole, the importance of drug labeling to protect public health, plans for the system for the future, prospects for the implementation of labeling in Uzbekistan were discussed, and brief results of labeling on drugs during its implementation were also announced.

The event was attended by Deputy Director for Finance of the Center for the Safety of Pharmaceutical Products Vosiev Shayadbek, Acting Head of the Product Labeling Control Department of the Tax Committee under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan Akhmadbek Fayziev, Director of Production NIKA PHARM Shokhrukh Abdusalimzoda, Registration Manager Ultra Laboratories Pvt. Ltd Rano Alimova, Director for Development of the Asl Belgisi Digital Labeling System Fazliddin Saidullaev, Chief Manager of the Asl Belgisi Digital Labeling System Diyor Rasulev, as well as media representatives and bloggers.

Particular attention at the press conference was paid to the results of drug labeling.

The operator of the digital labeling system noted that today more than 2,400 participants are registered in the Asl Belgisi labeling system, including 679 manufacturers, including more than 600 foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers, 740 importers and distributors of medicines, 1,053 retailers. More than 11 thousand names of medicines are included in the register of labeled goods.

The operator of the labeling system also noted that the majority of the drug market consists of foreign-made drugs.

Almost 90% of manufacturers are foreign; more than 63.4% of medicines entering the republican market are foreign-made drugs.

During the press conference, the chief manager of the Asl Belgisi digital labeling system, Diyor Rasulev, especially noted that, according to the labeling system, the majority of the drug market consists of foreign-made drugs.

“There are no problems with the supply of foreign-made drugs to the republic due to labeling; the operator works with all foreign manufacturers on an ongoing basis. There is significant potential for the development of the pharmaceutical industry in the country to replace imported products, and the head of state spoke about this,” commented Diyor Rasulev.

Digital labeling is the process of applying a specialized code to the packaging of a medicinal product, mainly during production, the purpose of which is to track the movement between all participants in the turnover, right up to sale in pharmacies, and to guarantee authenticity to the consumer.

Authenticity can be verified by scanning with the free Asl Belgisi mobile app.

Now the operator, together with government agencies, is working to ensure that, using a mobile application, it is possible to identify medications intended for hospitals or other government agencies.

In the future, such drugs will not be sold in pharmacies. And if such situations are identified, it will be easy to report to government authorities.

It should be noted that the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca also believes that it is very important that patients in Uzbekistan have access to high-quality innovative medicines.

“With the help of the ‘Asl belgisi’ application and the digital marking code applied to the packaging, you can clearly understand when, by whom and where the drug was produced, as well as its expiration date. And, of course, make sure that this drug was legally imported into the Republic of Uzbekistan. All this helps to check the markings. Digitalization of processes is also important for pharmaceutical companies - with the help of labeling, it is possible to clearly track the movement of the drug along the supply chain, and also, in the future, generate analytical reports based on data from the labeling reporting system,” commented the AstraZeneca company.