PZN, PZN8, PZN7

PZN (Pharma-Zentral-Nummer) is a code for medicine identification in Germany and maybe other countries. In Germany it’s issued by the Informationsstelle für Arzneispezialitäten GmbH, Beethovenstr. 51-53, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

The PZN is based on Code39. The last digit is a check digit. It uses the Code39-start sign “*” in combination with “-” as the start sign. The stop sign is the standard code39 stop sign “*”. These start and stop signs and the characters “PZN ” do not need to be entered in order to produce a PZN because they are a fixed part of the PZN. The characters “PZN” are not coded in the barcode.

PZN7
The original PZN, now PZN7 is no longer awarded from the 01.01.2013. At this point PZN will completely switch to the PZN8. Old PZN7 may be used further for some years. From the 01.01.2020 the PZN7 is then invalidated and only the PZN8 may be used.

PZN8
The PZN8 replaces the old PZN from the 01.01.2013 and offers a larger number range by the additional digit.