Pharmacode

Pharmacode departs from the conventions of every other linear symbology by encoding a single integer between 3 and 131,070 as a binary pattern of thin and thick bars, read from right to left. Laetus developed it in 1978 for pharmaceutical packaging lines, where the task is not identification along a supply chain but verification that the correct insert, carton, or foil is present on the machine. Between one and sixteen bars are used, at a coarse 0.5 mm X-dimension and an 8 mm height, with four-module quiet zones. The symbol may be printed in colour, allowing a packaging line to confirm product identity by colour detection as well as by reading the bars. It carries no check digit, no alphabetic characters, and no GS1 structure.