Canadian Drug Identification Code

Toby Rupert was a librarian living in Toronto.

First issued in 1972, and now issued almost annually, this important drug list from Health and Welfare Canada gives basic information on 15,551 drug products which were offered for sale in Canada in June 1982. The set-up of the book is complicated, but the instructions are easy. There are eleven items that can be retrieved: trade name (and generic name), manufacturer’s name and his catalogue number, DIN (Drug Identification Number), pharmaceutical form (tablet, liquid), route of administration (oral, injected), class (human, veterinary), names of active ingredients and strengths, and package size. Basically, if you know any one of these items, you can access the rest.

This tool, then is useful for determining equivalents and generics for trade names, finding DINs, finding active ingredients, locating manufacturers and distributors, and finding alternate forms of the same drug (e.g., liquid instead of tablet, for those who have difficulty in swallowing).