How to Check and Identify Fake Medicines

Fake medicines are products sold as genuine drugs when they are not — they may contain the wrong ingredient, too little or too much of the correct ingredient, or no active ingredient at all. You can lower your risk by buying only from licensed pharmacies, examining the pack closely before you use it, and using the QR code or batch details printed on many Indian medicine packs to check authenticity.

Most people never think about whether a medicine is genuine — they trust the pharmacy, the packaging and the brand name. Most of the time that trust is justified. But fake and substandard medicines do circulate, especially through unauthorised sellers, informal markets and unverified online sources, and they can be hard to tell apart from the real product just by looking at the box. Knowing what to check on the pack, and how to verify a medicine through official channels, is a practical skill worth having — for yourself and for anyone you buy medicines for.

Not every bad medicine is fake in the same way. It helps to know the difference between the terms, because the fix is different for each.

• Substandard medicines are made by a genuine, licensed manufacturer but fail to meet the required quality standards — often because of a manufacturing or storage lapse.
• Falsified (spurious) medicines are made to deliberately deceive. They misrepresent their identity, source or composition — for example, a strip that looks like a well-known brand but is not made by that manufacturer, or a tablet with no active ingredient in it at all.
• Misbranded medicines carry a label, claim or packaging that is false or misleading about what the medicine is or does, even if the drug inside is genuine.

Falsified medicines may contain the wrong ingredients, no active ingredient at all, or even harmful contaminants, while still being packaged and shaped to look like the real tablet. This is why a medicine can look right and still not work — or cause harm.

Before you use a strip, bottle or box, take a moment to look it over. Any of the following should make you pause:

• Broken or missing seal on a bottle, tube or blister that should normally be tamper-evident.
• Poor print quality — blurred text, uneven fonts, faded ink, or spelling mistakes on the label or carton.
• Mismatched batch details — the batch number, manufacturing date or expiry date printed on the strip does not match the outer carton.
• No manufacturer address or licence number, or a manufacturer name you cannot find any record of.
• Unusual tablet appearance — a different colour, size, shape, taste or smell compared to the same medicine you have used before.
• Crumbling, chalky or sticky tablets, or a blister pack that feels unusually flimsy.
• Price that is far lower than what the same medicine normally costs at a licensed pharmacy.
• No MRP printed, or an MRP that has been altered or overwritten.

If you notice more than one of these signs, do not use the medicine. Show it to a pharmacist or doctor first.

1. Buy from a licensed pharmacy. Choose a pharmacy — physical or online — that displays its drug licence details and is a known, traceable business. Avoid buying medicines from unregistered online sellers, social media sellers, or street vendors.
2. Compare the pack with a genuine one. If you have used the medicine before, compare the new pack's print quality, colour and font against your last purchase or against the manufacturer's product images.
3. Check the batch number, manufacturing date and expiry date. These should be clearly printed and identical on both the strip and the outer carton.
4. Scan the QR code or barcode, if the pack has one. Many medicines sold in India now carry a QR code or barcode that stores details such as the product name, batch number, manufacturing licence number and expiry date, which you can check using a compatible scanning app.
5. Ask your pharmacist to double-check if anything looks or feels different from what you normally receive, especially for high-value or long-term medicines.
6. When in doubt, do not use it. Set the medicine aside and get it verified before taking a single dose.

India has been building a barcode- and QR-code-based track-and-trace system to make it easier to authenticate medicines across the supply chain. Under an amendment to the Drugs Rules, 1945 notified in November 2022, manufacturers of the 300 top-selling pharmaceutical brands named in that notification have had to print or affix a barcode or QR code on the packaging under Schedule H2, with the requirement taking effect for batches manufactured from 1 August 2023 onward. This code carries details such as the product's unique identification code, generic and brand name, manufacturer's name and address, batch number, manufacturing and expiry dates, and manufacturing licence number, which can be checked through a compatible app.

In 2026, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare expanded this requirement to cover all vaccines, antimicrobials, narcotic and psychotropic drugs, and anti-cancer medicines as well, with phased compliance timelines running through 2027 and 2028. Not every medicine on the market carries this code yet, so the absence of a QR code does not by itself mean a medicine is fake — but where a code is present, scanning it is a genuine and useful check.

Under India's Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, a medicine is legally classified as a spurious drug if it is manufactured under a name that belongs to another drug, if it imitates or substitutes for another drug in a way likely to deceive, or if it falsely claims to come from a manufacturer that did not actually make it. A medicine is classified as misbranded if its label, container or anything accompanying it carries a statement, design or claim that is false or misleading about the product. The Act prohibits the manufacture, sale, stocking or distribution of spurious, misbranded or adulterated drugs, and treats it as a serious offence.

State and central drug control authorities, coordinated by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, are responsible for testing drug samples, declaring batches "not of standard quality" or spurious, and taking enforcement action.

1. Do not throw the medicine away. Keep the strip, bottle or box, along with the outer carton, the bill and any batch or QR code details.
2. Take clear photographs of the pack, the batch number, manufacturing and expiry dates, and the seller or pharmacy details.
3. Note where and how you bought it — the pharmacy name and address, or the website or seller name if bought online.
4. Report it to your state Drug Control authority, or to a CDSCO zonal or sub-zonal office, which handle spurious and substandard drug complaints for your area. CDSCO does not run a separate online form specifically for counterfeit-medicine complaints; its public relations office can be reached on the general toll-free number, 1800-11-1454, and can point you to the right office for your location.
5. If you have taken the medicine and feel unwell, contact your doctor or the nearest hospital promptly, and carry the medicine strip or pack with you.

CDSCO also runs a whistleblower reward scheme to encourage the public to report information leading to the detection of spurious drugs, alongside its regular monitoring of drug samples across the country.

The simplest way to avoid fake medicines is to control where you buy them from. A licensed pharmacy — whether a neighbourhood shop or an online pharmacy such as PlatinumRx — sources medicines from manufacturers or their authorised distributors and can be held accountable if something is wrong with a product. Always insist on a valid prescription for prescription-only medicines; a pharmacy that skips this step for a medicine that legally requires one is not one you should trust with your health.

This article is for general information. It does not replace advice from your doctor or pharmacist. If you are ever unsure whether a medicine you have is genuine, safe to take, or right for your condition, check with a qualified healthcare professional before using it.