๐ Pharmacode Generator
Pharmacode is a simple barcode standard with no check digit, used for quality control (optical count verification) on pharmaceutical packaging.
Enter a value from 3 to 131070 to generate a Pharmacode barcode, used mainly for quality control (optically verifying product orientation and count) on pharmaceutical packaging lines.
How to use
- Enter a value between 3 and 131070.
- Download the generated barcode as SVG or PNG.
How the calculation works
Generate a Pharmacode (Laetus Pharmacode), the barcode used on pharmaceutical packaging. It represents a number from 3 to 131070 as a sequence of narrow and wide bars. The number is broken down by a binary-like rule, with each place printed as a narrow bar (1) or a wide bar (2). There are 2 to 16 bars: 3 is the smallest (two narrow bars) and 131070 the largest (sixteen wide bars). It has no check digit. Packaging lines use it to check at high speed that the right carton or leaflet is being used.
Worked example
3 โ two narrow bars (the minimum) 131070 โ sixteen wide bars (the maximum) Each carton design gets its own number, and a camera on the line reads the printed cartons to catch mix-ups.
Things to be aware of
- A Pharmacode does not replace a product identifier such as a JAN code.
- With no check digit, the value is verified by the production lineโs system.
- The same bars read in reverse can give a different value, so the reading direction is fixed in practice.
FAQ
What is Pharmacode?
Pharmacode is a barcode standard widely used in the pharmaceutical industry, mainly for quality control on packaging lines (optically checking that a product is correctly counted and oriented). It's a simple binary-encoded barcode with no check digit.
Why is the value range 3 to 131070?
Pharmacode encodes a binary number as a sequence of wide/narrow bars, and the number of bars it can represent (2 to 16) sets the minimum value (3) and maximum value (131070).
How is this different from barcodes like JAN?
Unlike product-identification barcodes like JAN/EAN-13, Pharmacode has no check digit โ it's a simple standard focused specifically on packaging-line count verification.