Edible QR medication could help doctors prescribe more accurately, keep patients more informed

A new study in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics looks at creating QR-encoded smart oral medication made by inkjet printing. "This technology is promising, because the medical drug can be dosed exactly the way you want it to," said Natalja Genina, an author of the study and an assistant professor at Department of Pharmacy at the University of Copenhagen. "This gives an opportunity to tailor the medication according to the patient getting it." In the study, researchers used inkjet printing technology to print the physical medication onto a porous and flexible substrate. Notably, they chose to print the medication in the form of a QR code, which contains a link to drug facts. Patients can use their smartphones to scan the edible QR code and find out information about the medication they are about to take. The patient's name, drug administration route, expiration date, manufacturer ID, and batch number will all be embedded in the QR code. The scan "can potentially reduce cases of wrong medication and fake medicine," Genina noted. Patients are able to ingest the printed code, and the researchers noted the good absorption capability in the code. However, they said there are limitations. One of the issues researchers foresee is issues with patients' smartphones, such as the device getting lost or the battery running out. The dosage could also get wrinkled, which would make it harder for the smartphone to read.