Under the CFDA (China Food and Drug Administration) electronic system for supervising and administering production and distribution of all types of pharmaceutical products, each package of a drug product must be identified by a unique electronic supervision and administration code (the “Code“). The Code is composed of a 20-digit number, a bar code and text (such as telephone number and website address).

The Code must be indicated on the exterior of the package itself and identifies basic information such as drug name, manufacturer, approval number, dosage form and strength, date of production, batch number and package size. All drug manufacturers and distributors are required to record the flow path of a drug product from when it is packed until it reaches the end user or medical institution in a centralized national database maintained by CFDA.