[ Press Release, , April 1, 2020 / unofficial translation ] Quick and Easy Confirmation of Narcotics via QR Code Scanning of Medicine Envelopes - Provision of “Narcotics Safety Information Guide” mobile application - □ The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Minister Lee Eui-Kyung) has launched the “Narcotics Safety Information Guide” mobile application service, which allows patients to easily confirm the presence of narcotics in their prescribed medication by scanning the QR code printed on medicine envelope. ○ This application serves as a platform to provide patients with information of whether their prescribed medications contain narcotics, and if so, to provide their indications and usage, dosage and administration, warnings and precautions, etc. All of this information can be easily accessed by utilizing the medication envelope dispensed from the pharmacy. - This service was developed in cooperation with the Korea Pharmaceutical Information Center (affiliated with the Korean Pharmaceutical Association), and only operates when the QR codes are printed on medication envelopes via the “Pharm IT3000” pharmacy dispense & management software. □ To use this service, download the “Narcotics Safety Information Guide” application* and go to “View QR code Product Information”. Once the QR code on the envelope is scanned, a “Product List” will be displayed on the screen. * Search for “Narcotics Safety Information” on Play Store (Google) or App Store (Apple) ○ Select a product from the “Product List” to be navigated to the “Integrated Medicine Information System”(nedrug.mfds.go.kr) and easily find relevant product information*. * Product image, indications and usage, dosage and administration, warnings and precautions, etc. □ Since February 2020, patients can also verify their history of narcotics prescription through the service “View My Prescription History” at the “Narcotics Big Data Utilization Service” webpage(data.nims.or.kr). ○ By providing patients with their narcotics prescription history of the past year, we hope that it will give patients the opportunity to reflect back on their narcotics use, and prevent future drug abuse or misuse. □ Minister Lee Eui-Kyung announced that “MFDS will evaluate the benefits and accessibility of the application to determine further plans for expansion and/or updates. We will continue to develop various services to enhance public awareness on narcotics for medical use”.