Check a DSCSA barcode before a partner does.
Paste what your scanner reads from a drug package's 2D barcode, or type it with the AIs in brackets. DSCSA Check reads the GTIN, serial number, lot and expiry, and tells you whether each one is in the format DSCSA and GS1 ask for. It runs in your browser; nothing you paste is sent to us.
Result
| AI | Field | Value | Check |
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A format check against the DSCSA product identifier and GS1 rules, not a verification and not legal advice. It does not tell you whether the product is genuine or whether the manufacturer issued that serial number.
Two more checks
GTIN check digit
Calculate takes everything but the last digit (7, 11, 12 or 13 digits). Validate takes a full GTIN-8, -12, -13 or -14. GS1 mod-10: weights 3 and 1 from the right.
NDC to GTIN-14
An NDC-based GTIN-14 is the packaging indicator, then 03, then the 10-digit NDC, then a check digit (GS1 US). Use the indicator your company assigned to that packaging level. From 7 March 2033 the 12-digit NDC will not fit in a GTIN; see the NDC-12 converter.
How it checks
What DSCSA asks for
Each package of a prescription drug carries a product identifier: the NDC and a serial number of up to 20 characters (together, the standardized numerical identifier), the lot number and the expiration date. On a package it goes in a 2D data matrix barcode, and in human-readable form. FDA says a QR code cannot replace the data matrix, and that the expiry day should not be written as 00.
What GS1 asks for
(01) GTIN: 14 digits, the last a check digit. (21) serial and (10) lot: up to 20 characters from GS1's character set 82. (17) expiry: YYMMDD. A lot or serial that is not the last field needs a GS (FNC1) separator after it. A DSCSA barcode is GS1 DataMatrix, which starts with FNC1.
Errors it catches
A missing separator after the lot or serial, so one field swallows the next. A wrong GTIN check digit. A serial over 20 characters, or with characters GS1 does not allow, such as a space or #. An impossible date, or day 00 in the expiry. A missing field. A QR code or plain Data Matrix where GS1 DataMatrix is needed. Fields can come in any order; GS1 does not fix one.
What it does not check
Whether the product is genuine, whether the manufacturer issued that serial, whether a verification request would come back verified, or how well the symbol is printed. Those need the manufacturer's data and a grading scanner.
Sources: 21 U.S.C. §360eee (definitions) and §360eee-1 (requirements); FDA, Product Identifiers Under the DSCSA: Questions and Answers (June 2021); GS1 General Specifications; GS1 DataMatrix Guideline; GS1 US, Applying GS1 Standards for DSCSA. Related: DSCSA guide, GS1 DataMatrix, 25-line check, DSCSA checklist.
Format is the easy part. Tracing is the test.
A readiness audit runs a real tracing request on your own units and partners and writes up what was missing. Fixed fee, written report in 14 days.