Have you ever wondered what those markings on your pills and tablets mean? Keep reading to learn what they are and why they’re so important!
The Pharmaceutical Imprint Code
At some point in our lives, we’re prescribed some oral medication from a doctor in the form of a pill or tablet. Anyone who’s taken a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved pill or tablet will notice small markings on it in the form of letters, numbers, and even logos and symbols. But what are they?
These small markings are the pharmaceutical imprint code, and we’ll explain what it is and why we need it below.
What Is It?
The FDA requires all approved prescription and over-the-counter medications in the USA to have an imprint. This imprint can be any combination of letters, numbers, or even words and logos—as long as that same imprint is defined in the imprint code.
The drug manufacturer determines the imprint for its products, while the FDA records it for future use and ensures it’s not the same as any other drug. If your pill or tablet doesn’t have an imprint code, it may be a vitamin, a homeopathic drug, a counterfeit (although most counterfeits also include false markings), or a foreign medication.
Why Do We Need It?
It’s the law to have these imprints so that authorities and patients can identify the drug product, its active ingredients, its strength, and the manufacturer or distributor. It’s not like a code language where a certain number or letter means one thing. It’s just a unique imprint recorded by the FDA that keeps the information for that drug on file for quick identification.
Those who have to take many oral medications know that keeping track of them all can be challenging because they can all look so familiar. That’s why the pharmaceutical imprint code is critically important to drug safety. A patient can identify the pill with its imprint, color, size, and shape by looking it up online or asking a pharmacist.
Can Two Pills Have the Same Code?
While finding two pills or tablets with the same imprint is possible, it’s about as likely as winning the lottery. The FDA and drug suppliers don’t want confusion, so they take practically any step to differentiate pills and tablets.
The only scenario where two pills might have the same imprint is when one drug was discontinued, and another drug came along and took the code shortly after. Alternatively, one of them could be a foreign medication.
Examples of the Pharmaceutical Imprint Code
Now that we better understand the imprint code, let’s look at some examples of what the markings on pills and tablets mean.
X ANA X 2: This imprint identifies Xanax 2 mg pill, which is white, rectangular, and made by Pfizer. This one’s easy, but most pills don’t have the space to fit the entire name!
022: The imprint “022” identifies the yellow, round tablet known as Cyclobenzaprine Hydrochloride 10 mg, supplied by TruPharma LLC. This imprint is a good example of how the code can be a random set of numbers, and no one would know what it means without the FDA imprint code.
377: This imprint is for Tramadol Hydrochloride 50 mg—a white, elliptical pill from Sun Pharmaceutical Industries. Again, these markings would mean nothing to the individual until they look up 377 in the imprint code and can find all the needed information there.
