Lilly Announces Individual Bar Coding on All Insulin Vials

02/08/2005

Eli Lilly and Company recently announced that it is including bar codes on individual vials of its insulin products including Humulin and Humalog.

The bar codes -- much like the linear bar codes found on many retail products -- have been included on Lilly's insulin product outer packaging in the past, but this marks the first time the bar codes are being included on the vial labels.

The bar coding is part of a larger effort within the health care industry to decrease medication errors. In February 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a new regulation that requires all new pharmaceuticals to be bar-coded upon launch in the marketplace and all existing medications to be bar coded within two years of the ruling. Lilly completed its bar coding of insulin vials 18 months before the FDA's deadline, and the bar codes appear on vials for nine insulin products.

Bar code labeling on prescription drugs is projected to reduce error by 500,000 instances over the next 20 years with an estimated savings of $93 billion in additional health care costs, patient pain and suffering and lost wages, according to the FDA. Studies by U.S. Pharmacopeia in 2003 indicate insulin products have the highest rates of errors in a hospital setting.

"Insulin is a life-saving medication for so many patients, so it's disheartening to see that it can be involved in errors," said Scott J. Jacober, DO, medical advisor at Lilly. "Much of this can be attributed to the high volume of insulin used in a hospital setting and the complexity of hospital medication orders for insulin. With the new bar coded vials, doctors can have greater confidence that the drug they are prescribing is being given to the correct patient and at the correct time."

Individual insulin patients and pharmacists may notice the bar coding, too. However, the initiative will have the biggest immediate impact on hospitals.

"With insulin, the vials are often removed from outer packaging. Bar coding the vial itself is so integral to enhancing safety in our hospitals," said Michael R. Cohen, RPh, MS, ScD, president of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices and author of the book Medication Errors.

Cohen is also a member of the FDA's Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Panel and was involved in the creation of this new regulation. "As more hospitals embrace technology that allows for 100 percent digital patient medical records, we're seeing bedside bar code scanners in patient rooms and correlating bar codes on patient identification bracelets. Doctors designate the proper medication, dosage, time to administer, and so on for their patients. Then when a nurse administering medication scans the patient's bracelet and vial, all data can be verified before any drug is administered."