Fake Medicine (Nakli Dawa): Strip, Pack and DRAP Number Checks

You can’t prove a medicine is fake at the counter, but you can catch most bad packs in two minutes: a clear registration number, a batch and expiry that are printed (not stuck on), a clean blister with sharp lettering, a printed price, and tablets that match each other. Buy only from a licensed pharmacy, keep the box, and if anything looks off, ask the pharmacist before you swallow a single one.

How to identify fake medicine: what “fake” actually means

People say nakli dawa (fake medicine) for three different problems, and it helps to know which one you’re worried about.

A falsified medicine is deliberately made to look like a real product, with a copied box, copied logo and copied batch number, and inside there may be the right drug, too little of it, a different drug, chalk, or nothing useful at all. A substandard medicine comes from a real, licensed maker but fails its own quality specification, perhaps because of a bad batch or poor storage. And an unregistered medicine has never been approved for sale in your country at all, which means nobody has checked what’s in it.

All three can look perfectly normal. That’s the honest part nobody likes: a skilled counterfeiter copies the box better than you can inspect it. So the checks below catch the careless fakes, the tampered packs and the badly stored stock, and your best protection is still where you buy.

What to check on the box and strip

Do this at the counter, in good light, before you pay. It takes less time than the bill.

1. Find the registration number. In Pakistan, allopathic medicines carry a DRAP registration number, usually printed as “Reg. No.” followed by digits. In India, look for the manufacturing licence number (often “Mfg. Lic. No.”). A pack with no registration or licence line at all is a stop sign.
2. Read the batch and dates. Batch number, manufacture date and expiry date should be printed or embossed straight onto the box and the strip. A sticker over the dates, smudged ink or a date that looks re-printed means a relabelled or old pack.
3. Match box and strip. The batch and expiry on the foil should be the same as the box. Different numbers mean strips were swapped into someone else’s carton.
4. Check the printed price. Registered medicines in Pakistan and India carry a printed maximum retail price. Missing, scratched or over-stickered prices are worth a question.
5. Look at the print quality. Real packs have crisp text, even colours and correct spelling. Blurry logos, spelling mistakes in the drug name or maker’s address, and a flimsy carton are classic signs of a copy.
6. Check the blister itself. Each pocket should be sealed, the foil flat and unbroken, and no pocket bulging, sticky or crushed.
7. Compare the tablets. Every tablet in a strip should match: colour, size, shape, coating shine, any score (break) line and any letters pressed in. One chalky, cracked or differently coloured tablet is enough to stop.
8. Look for a verification code. Some companies print a QR code, a scratch code or a hologram. Scan or check it only through the company’s or regulator’s own official website, never through a number or link given by the seller.

Liquids get the same look: a sealed cap that breaks when you open it, no leaks, no crust around the neck, and no floating bits or odd colour once opened. Keep the carton until the bottle is finished, because that’s where the batch number lives.

DRAP registration check online (and India’s QR codes)

DRAP (the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan) publishes registered-product information on its official website, and people search it by the product name or the registration number from the pack. If the name, maker and strength on your box don’t match the registered record, show it to a pharmacist. Don’t rely on screenshots or “verification” links sent by a seller; open the regulator’s site yourself.

A quick difference that trips people up: “registration” belongs to a product, while a “licence” belongs to a factory or a shop. A pharmacy licence doesn’t make every box inside it registered, and a registered product can still be a falsified copy if it came through the wrong hands.

Herbal and Unani products are enlisted, not registered; see how to check if a herbal product is DRAP-enlisted.

In India, the regulator made a QR code mandatory from 2023 on the labels of many top-selling brands, and it opens details such as the maker and batch. A pack of one of those brands without a working code deserves a second look.

Where fake medicines usually come from

Fakes follow money and shortcuts. They pile up where buyers can’t compare, where the price gap is large and where nobody keeps records.

• Loose tablets. Tablets sold cut from strips, or tipped into a paper twist, have lost the one thing that identifies them. Refuse them. If you only need a few, ask for them cut from a strip with the foil still printed.
• Online sellers and social media pages. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp sellers of “imported” medicines, slimming pills, sex-performance pills and injections are a common route for falsified and unregistered products. A real online pharmacy shows its licence, a physical address, a qualified pharmacist and asks for a prescription for prescription medicines.
• High-value and high-demand medicines. Expensive injections, cancer medicines, weight-loss injections, antibiotics and anything in short supply are the most copied.
• Unusually cheap stock. A modest discount is normal. A price far below every other shop usually has a reason, and the reason isn’t kindness.

Home tests that don’t work

Myth: dissolving a tablet in water shows if it’s real

It doesn’t. Some real tablets dissolve fast, some are built to dissolve slowly, some are coated to survive the stomach, and a fake made of chalk and starch can dissolve beautifully. The water test proves nothing, and it wastes a tablet you might need. The same goes for tasting, smelling, burning or scratching tablets. Only a laboratory can say what’s inside.

Myth: the more expensive brand is always the real one

Price tells you about the brand, not the box in your hand. A falsifier’s favourite target is exactly the expensive brand, because the profit is bigger.

What to do if a medicine seems to do nothing

This is where people get hurt, because the instinct is to take more. Don’t. A tablet that “isn’t working” might be fake, but it might also be the wrong medicine for the problem, too early to judge, or an illness that needs a doctor to look again.

1. Stop and keep everything: the box, the strip, the bill, and any unused tablets.
2. Show the pack to the pharmacist and compare it with a fresh box of the same product from a trusted source.
3. Tell your doctor what you took, from which batch, and what happened. They decide whether to change anything.
4. Never double up, never add a second product with the same drug, and never switch to a leftover strip from home.
5. If you suspect a fake, report it with the pack and bill: in Pakistan medicines go to DRAP or your provincial health department, in India to the state drug controller or the national drug regulator.

Storing medicine so good stock stays good

A real tablet can turn substandard in your own house. Heat, damp and light are the enemies. Keep medicines in their original strip and box, in a cool, dry cupboard, not in the bathroom, not on a sunny windowsill and not in a parked car in June. Keep the carton so you still have the batch and expiry. Throw out tablets that have changed colour, crumbled or smell odd, and ask your pharmacist how to dispose of them. There’s more on the basics in bringing a medicine list to your doctor, which works just as well for allopathic packs. For more home-safety guides, see Desi Remedies.

Fake medicine questions people ask