Pharmaceutical and medical commodity
research is profiling discipline which aims at
training employees of the pharmacy to
perform professional merchandising functions
related to providing medical institutions and
public with pharmaceutical goods and
medical equipment, training of pharmacist
skills of work with tools, instruments and
medical equipment.
Pharmaceutical and medical commodity
research studies:
 - Consumer properties of pharmaceutical and
medical goods;
 - Range;
 - Classification;
 - Coding
 - Commodity transactions of goods in a
chemist's network;
 - Influence on the quality of goods;
 - Organization of storage and so on.
1. Safety - a principle that is impermissible in the
absence of risk associated with the possibility of
applying product (service process) damage to life,
health and property.
 2. Efficiency - a principle that determine achievement
optimum results in the production, storage, and
consumption of goods.
 3. Compatibility - the principle that determined
suitability of goods (processes, services) for common
use.
 4. Interchangeability - a principle which determined
suitability of a product (process service) is used instead
of other goods (process service) to perform the same
functions.
 5. Systematization - a principle which is to establish a
sequence of homogeneous, mutually related products
(processes and services).

In economics and accounting, a good is a
product that can be used to satisfy some
desire or need. More narrowly but commonly,
a good is a tangible physical product that can
be contrasted with a service which is
intangible.
“Pharmaceutical product” means any
substance, or mixture of substances, for use
in human beings or animals, for:
 a) the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or
prevention of a disease or its symptom;
 b) the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation of
any abnormal physical or physiological state
or its symptom;
 c)
altering, modifying, correcting or
restoring any organic function.
Classification (from Lat. Classic - level, group)
- the distribution of various objects (objects
and phenomena) into classes, groups, and
other units based on common attributes.
The first attempts were scientific classification
done by M. J. Kitarry in the "public course of
commodity”, and then by other scientists.
There are categories of classification:
 - Higher;
 - Average;
 - Lower.
 Higher classification category indicates the
terms, "unit" or "class", "division".
 Medium-category "group", "subgroup", "type".
 Lower-category "subspecies".
1. Glands and other organs for organo-therapeutic
uses, dried, whether or not powdered; extracts
of glands or other organs or of their secretions
for organo-therapeutic uses; heparin and its
salts; other human or animal substances
prepared for therapeutic or prophylactic uses,
not elsewhere specified or included.
 Glands and other organs, dried, whether or not
powdered
 Extracts of glands or other organs or of their
secretions
 Other
2. Human Blood; animal blood prepared for
therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic uses;
antisera and other blood fractions and modified
immunological products, whether or not
obtained by means of biotechnological
processes; vaccines, toxins, cultures of microorganisms (excluding yeast) and similar products.
 Antisera and other blood fractions and modified
immunological
 products, whether or not obtained by means of
biotechnological processes
 Vaccines for human medicine
 Vaccines for veterinary medicine
 Others
4. Medicaments (excluding goods of heading) consisting of
two or more constituents which have been mixed together
for therapeutic or prophylactic uses, not put up in
measured doses or in forms or packings for retail sale.
 Containing penicillins or derivatives thereof, with a
penicillanic acid structure, or streptomycins or their
derivatives
 Containing other antibiotics
 Containing hormones or other products of heading not
containing antibiotics:
Containing insulin
Other
 Containing alkaloids or derivatives thereof but not
containing
 hormones or other products of heading or antibiotics
 Other
5. Wadding, gauze, bandages and similar
articles (for example, dressings, adhesive
plasters, poultices), impregnated or coated
with pharmaceutical substances or put up in
forms or packing for retail sale for medical,
surgical, dental or veterinary purposes.
 Adhesive dressings and other articles having
an adhesive layer
 Wadding and gauze, neither impregnated nor
covered with pharmaceutical substances
 Other
6. Pharmaceutical goods including sterile surgical and dental
goods, blood-grouping reagents, opacifying preparations, xray diagnostic reagent, dental cements and other dental
filings, bone cement, first-aid boxes and kits, contraceptive
preparations based on hormones or spermicides.
7. Sterile surgical catgut, similar sterile suture materials and
sterile tissue adhesives for surgical wound closure; sterile
laminaria tents; sterile absorbable surgical or dental
haemostatics
 Blood-grouping reagents
 Opacifying preparations for X-ray examinations; diagnostic
reagents designed to be administered to the patient
 Dental cements and other dental fillings; bone
reconstruction cements
 First-aid boxes and kits
 Chemical contraceptive preparations based on hormones or
spermicides



Certain products are exempted from registration
under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance. These
are:
Proprietary Chinese medicines or Chinese herbal
medicines as defined in the Chinese Medicine
Ordinance. (Note: Proprietary Chinese medicines
are still required to be registered under the Chinese
Medicine Ordinance, and an import/export licence is
still required for their import/export.); and
Medical devices. A medical device is defined as any
instrument, apparatus, implement, machine,
appliance, implant, in vitro reagent or calibrator,
software, material or other similar, alone or in
combination, for human beings for one or more of the
specific purpose
Examples of medical device are:
 bone cements (including bone cements
containing an antibiotic)
 catheters (including heparin-coated
catheters)
 contact lens care products
 drug eluting stents
 haemodialysis concentrates
 intra-uterine devices for contraceptive use
 surgical dressings
 surgical sutures
The Anatomical Therapeutic
Chemical (ATC) Classification
System is used for the
classification of drugs. It is
controlled by the WHO
Collaborating Centre for Drug
Statistics Methodology (WHOCC),
and was first published in 1976
The classification system divides drugs into
different groups according to the organ or
system on which they act and/or their
therapeutic and chemical characteristics. Each
bottom-level ATC code stands for a
pharmaceutically used substance in a single
indication (or use). This means that one drug
can have more than one code: acetylsalicylic
acid (aspirin), for example, has A01AD05 as a
drug for local oral treatment, B01AC06 as a
platelet inhibitor, and N02BA01 as an analgesic
and antipyretic. On the other hand, several
different brands share the same code if they
have the same active substance and
indications.
1
Classification
1.1 First level
1.2 Second level
1.3 Third level
1.4 Fourth level
1.5 Fifth level
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

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
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The first level of the code indicates the anatomical main
group and consists of one letter. There are 14 main groups:
A
Alimentary tract and metabolism
B
Blood and blood forming organs
C
Cardiovascular system
D
Dermatologicals
G
Genito-urinary system and sex hormones
H
Systemic hormonal preparations, excluding sex
hormones and insulins
J
Antiinfectives for systemic use
L
Antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents
M
Musculo-skeletal system
N
Nervous system
P
Antiparasitic products, insecticides and repellents
R
Respiratory system
S
Sensory organs
V
Various
Second level
The second level of the code indicates the
therapeutic main group and consists of two digits.
Example: C03 Diuretics
 Third level
The third level of the code indicates the
therapeutic/pharmacological subgroup and consists
of one letter.
Example: C03C High-ceiling diuretics
 Fourth level
The fourth level of the code indicates the
chemical/therapeutic/pharmacological subgroup and
consists of one letter.
Example: C03CA Sulfonamides
 Fifth level
The fifth level of the code indicates the chemical
substance and consists of two digits.
Example: C03CA01 Furosemide

Bar codes are used worldwide in
supply chain management to
identify specific products. A bar
code consists of a string of numbers,
letters, or special characters, with a
series of black and white parallel
lines and spaces or mosaics in a
checkerboard or honeycomb
pattern, representing the numbers,
letters, or special characters in a
machine-readable form.
A “checksum” digit is added at the end of the
bar code’s data string, calculated from the
other characters in the data string. This
extra digit is a technical way of preventing
misinterpretation by the scanner (caused by,
for instance, a mangled label) which might
otherwise result in an error.
Bar codes are read by scanners, which may be
stationary (like those at store checkout
counters) or portable (hand-held wands or
pens). Scanners typically transmit the data
for one item at a time, but also available are
portable battery-operated “batch” scanners,
which can store data in memory for later
transfer to a host computer, and portable
wireless scanners, which can transfer batch
data in real time.
Bar codes encompass three basic elements: content
of the bar code, data format, and symbology.
 •Content refers to the information encoded in the
bar code. In the context of medications, examples of
content include the drug name, manufacturer, drug
strength and form, expiry date, lot number, and
package size and type.
 •Data format refers to the order in which the data
elements representing each content item are
arranged. To use a written-language analogy, data
format is comparable to sentence structure, where
the words are equivalent to the data elements.
 •Symbology refers to the number and width of the
printed bars and intervening spaces that make up the
machine-readable identifier. To use another writtenlanguage analogy, the symbology describes the “font”
in which the machine-readable code is written. The
type and number of characters encoded and the
amount of space available for the bar code are some
of the factors that determine which type of
symbology is most appropriate for a given bar code
application.
There are currently two established standards
for data format in health care, one managed
by GS1 (an amalgamation of the former
Uniform Code Council [UCC] and EAN
International) and the other by the Health
Information Business Communications Council
(HIBCC).
Three common symbologies are linear bar codes,
two-dimensional
matrix
bar
codes,
and
composite symbologies.
 Linear bar codes consist of a series of tall printed
bars of various widths
 Two-dimensional (2-D) matrix symbologies (e.g.,
Data Matrix) consist of matrices of printed squares
or dots, spiralling outward from the centre of the
symbol.
 Emerging
composite
symbologies
use
a
combination of linear and 2-D symbols to encode
significant amounts of data in addition to product
identification.
 Reduced space symbology (RSS) is a relatively
new type of linear symbology, developed to
store more data in a much smaller area.RSS
symbols can be printed on small labels applied
to curved surfaces, such as vials, ampoules, and
blister packs.
Example of RSS-14 stacked omnidirectional bar code20
There are currently two leading not-forprofit standards-setting organizations in
the health care arena: GS1 and HIBCC.
GS1 is headquartered in Brussels, with
member countries around the world.
HIBCC is based in the United States, with
affiliates in Australia, France, and the
United Kingdom. In addition, a European
Health Industry Business Communications
Council is based in The Hague,
Netherlands.
There are many similarities and differences
between the GS1 and HIBCC systems.
Similarities include the following:
 • Both assign unique identifiers to the
manufacturer or packager, allowing the
manufacturer to assign its own product identifier
(using criteria determined by the particular
system).
 • Both provide the same basic information
(identification of the manufacturer/labeller, the
product, and the packaging level)through their
data structures.
 • Both offer methods for encoding secondary
data, such as lot number, batch number, and
expiry date (usually encoded in a separate bar
code but occasionally merged with the primary
data into one long bar code).
Code 39 Barcode
This Symbology is also known as
ANSI/AIM Code 39, ANSI/AIM Code
39,
Uniform
Symbology
Specification Code 39, USS Code
39, USS 39, Code 3/9, Code 3 of
9, USD-3, LOGMARS, Alpha39,
Code 39 Extended, and Code 39
Full ASCII.
Code 39, the first alpha-numeric
symbology to be developed, is
still widely used-especially in
non-retail environments. It is
suitable for encoding general
purpose alphanumeric data.
It is the standard barcode used
by the United States Department
of Defense, and is also used by
the Health Industry Bar Code
Council (HIBCC).
Interlevead
2 of 5 Barcode
This Symbology is also known
as ANSI/AIM ITF 25, ANSI/AIM I2/5,
Uniform
Symbology
Specification ITF, USS ITF 2/5,
ITF, I-2/5, 2 of 5 Interleaved,
2/5 Interleaved.

Interleaved
2 of 5 is a higherdensity
numeric
symbology
based upon the Industrial 2 of 5
symbology. It is suitable for
encoding general purpose allnumeric data and is used
primarily in the distribution and
warehouse industry.
Code 128 Barcode
This Symbology is also
known as
ANSI/AIM 128, ANSI/AIM Code 128,
USS Code 128, Uniform Symbology
Specification Code 128, Code 128
Code Set A, Code 128 Code Set B,
Code 128 Code Set C, Code 128A,
Code 128B, Code 128C.
Code
128 is a linear bar code
symbology capable of encoding the
full 128-character ASCII character
set and extended character sets.
This Symbology includes a checksum
digit for verification, and the
barcode may also be verified
character-by-character verifying the
parity of each data byte. It has been
widely implemented in many
applications where a relatively large
amount of data must be encoded in
a relatively small amount of space.
EAN
8 Barcode
This Symbology is also known as
European Article Number 8, EAN-8
Supplement 5/Five-digit Add-On, EAN-8
Supplement 2/Two-digit Add-On, EAN8+5, EAN-8+2, EAN8, EAN8+5, UPC-8,
GTIN-8, GS1-8, EAN/UCC-8.

EAN-8
is the EAN equivalent of UPC-E in
the sense that it provides a "short"
barcode for small packages. The primary
purpose of the EAN-8 code is to use as
little space as possible.
EAN-8 is encoded using the three EAN13 character sets and also has a check
digit that is calculated in the same way
as EAN-13.
The data digits in an EAN-8 symbol
identify a particular product and
manufacturer. Since a limited number of
EAN-8 codes are available in each
country, they are issued only for products
with insufficient space for a normal EAN13 symbol. For example, a 2-digit country
code permits a total of only 100,000 item
numbers.
EAN
13 Barcode
This Symbology is also known as
European Article Number 13, EAN-13
Supplement 5/Five-digit Add-On, EAN13 Supplement 2/Two-digit Add-On,
EAN-13+5, EAN-13+2, EAN13, EAN13+5,
EAN13+2, UPC-13, GTIN-13, GS1-13,
EAN/UCC-13.

EAN-13,
based upon the UPC-A
standard, was implemented by the
International Article Numbering
Association (EAN) in Europe.

EAN-13
is a superset of UPC-A. This
means that any software or hardware
capable of reading an EAN-13 symbol
will automatically be able to read an
UPC-A symbol. The only difference
between EAN-13 and UPC-A is that the
number system code in UPC-A is a
single digit from 0 through 9 whereas
an EAN-13 number system code
consists of two digits ranging from 00
through 99, which is essentially a
country code.
EAN
14 (ITF 14) Barcode
 This Symbology is also known
as UPC Shipping Container
Symbol ITF-14, ITF14, Case
Code, UPC Case Code,
EAN/UCC-14, EAN-14, UCC-14,
DUN-14 and GTIN-14.

The
ITF-14 or UPC Shipping
Container Symbol is used to
mark cartons, cases, or pallets
that contain products which
have a UPC or EAN product
identification number. The
short-hand name for the symbol
is "ITF-14", and 14 digits (the
length of the container symbol).
EAN 128 Barcode
This Symbology is also known as EAN128, UCC-128, USS-128, GS1-128,
UCC.EAN-128 and GTIN-128.
The UCC/EAN-128 Symbology is a subset
of the more general Code 128
Symbology. By agreement among AIM,
Inc., EAN International and the UCC, use
of the Function 1 Character (FNC1) in
Code 128 Symbols in the first symbol
character position following the Start
Character has been reserved exclusively
for the EAN.UCC System.
UCC/EAN-128 was developed to provide
a worldwide format and standard for
exchanging common data between
companies. While other barcodes simply
encode data with no respect for what
the data represents, UCC/EAN-128
encodes data and encodes what that
data represents.
Example of an HIBCC Data Matrix bar code for a unit-dose package