It would be a "strategic mistake" for pharmacy not to be at the forefront of anti-counterfeiting initiatives and current MHRA plans "lack vision", according to the European lobby group for community pharmacy.

As the European Commission consults on plans to introduce a system of unique barcodes on medicines packaging that could be scanned for verification at the point of dispensing, John Chave, general secretary of the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU), has argued that patients look to pharmacists to guarantee the quality and safety of their medicines. He warned that, if verification was left to agencies outside of the sector, it would be a "strategic mistake".

"If the verification of medicines becomes a reality in Europe then I think it's important that pharmacists are at the forefront of that," he told the annual conference of the European Association of full-line wholesalers (GIRP) in Lisbon this week (June 4).

The MHRA argued for more flexibility in the EC's unique barcode plans, pushing for the initiative to be non-mandatory

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But the MHRA has argued for the directive to be more flexible. In a letter sent to the European Commission, the UK medicines regulator said it believed "disproportionate expenditure on these measures was likely to harm public health by diverting funds from services that offer greater health benefits". "The UK argued strongly during negotiations of the directive to ensure that scanning at the point of dispensing would not be mandatory because of the very significant challenges this would pose for healthcare providers in the UK where we have a large number of community pharmacies," the letter said.

Mr Chave warned that the directive could invite falsification if the MHRA intended for only a small number of medicines to be verified by the barcode system. "The directive says that the safety feature which would allow verification should only be applied on a risk-assessed basis, and the MHRA is saying we should keep this down to a small number of medicines," he said.

"We would say, however, that it should be as broad as possible, because we don't want to invite falsification by implying that some medicines are not at risk."

But the MHRA told C+D it did not recognise Mr Chave's claims. "We've never said there would be a limited number of medicines on the verification list," a spokesperson said.

It was important, Mr Chave added, for pharmacists to make their voices heard through their representatives to ensure the directive was implemented seamlessly. "What we don't want is a system which causes a revolution in pharmacy practice," he said.

"We want a system, if it is implemented, that moves in seamlessly to pharmacies so pharmacists don't even notice it is there."

Last month Pharmacy Voice urged the European commission to ensure it does not impose "undue restrictions on the developments of new and innovative services for patients" when it introduces measures to help prevent falsified medicines entering the supply chain.

Watch the full interview with John Chave below: