It is the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) which is behind this decision.
People who regularly go to the pharmacy to buy their medicines following their traditional prescription renewal could be disrupted in October. In question, the packaging of several drugs available in the city – 170 precisely – changes from this month, by decision of the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM). Patients will now find a QR-Code on the box. But why do it?
The drugs concerned belong to widely used therapeutic classes, such as paracetamol (adult forms) for the treatment of pain and fever; statins prescribed in cardiovascular prevention; Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) used against digestive disorders and gastric reflux and certain vaccines for adults, elderly and children. “These drugs have been chosen because they treat various pathologies (chronic or acute) and have levels of consumption and various target populations” explains the ANSM on its site. They were therefore chosen because they are taken massively and the health agency wishes to carry out a large -scale test.
These drugs are part of an experimental pilot phase. And they are not the only ones. In all, this test concerns 600 drugs, including just over 400 used in the hospital and 170 in town. The objective is to set up the “E-Notice”, the digital version of the information instructions for patients for patients. “From the fall of 2025, certain boxes of drugs distributed in city pharmacy will include a QR code allowing direct access to these digital notices” explains the ANSM. The patient will have to scan this QR code with the camera of a smartphone or tablet to have the instructions for his treatment: his dosage, his side effects, contraindications …
Let the oldest reassure themselves: during the pilot phase which will last two years, the paper instructions of the drugs will remain available inside the boxes. User opinion on digital notices will be collected via online questionnaires and two surveys will be carried out by the ANSM with a panel of people, one in mid-2026 and the other at the end of 2027. The French pilot phase is part of a European movement. The European Commission encourages the transition to electronic notices. Several Member States such as Belgium, Spain and Portugal also experience the abandonment of paper records. It remains to be hoped that this digital revolution leaves no patients aside.
