NDC COORDINATION AND IMPLEMENTATION FORUM
For OTC Manufacturers
Nobody's telling OTC manufacturers what this barcode change means for the shelf. We are.
FDA's 12-digit NDC format decouples the NDC from the GTIN your products are scanned by today, a retail-specific risk almost no current guidance addresses directly. The NDC Forum connects OTC manufacturers with the retailers and pharmacies who'll be scanning your product in 2033.
The Challenge
NDC-12 decouples the NDC from the GTIN your products are currently identified by at retail. That's not a labeling footnote; it's a direct threat to whether your product scans, sells, and gets reordered.
New barcode requirements may force changes to packaging you weren't planning to touch
A barcode that fails to scan at a retail point of sale is a lost sale, not just an IT ticket
Retail partners will set their own expectations for how NDC-12 and GTIN coexist, expectations you need to know before you redesign packaging, not after
OTC manufacturers are often left out of NDC-12 planning conversations that assume an Rx-centric supply chain
How the Forum Helps
Understand what retailers will actually require, directly from the pharmacy and retail organizations who will be scanning your product.
Monitor the NDC/GTIN decoupling as it's resolved, so packaging decisions aren't made on outdated assumptions.
Coordinate with trading partners across the supply chain before a barcode change becomes a shelf-availability problem.
Make sure the OTC perspective is represented in standards conversations that too often default to prescription-drug assumptions.
A Conversation Almost No One Is Having With You Directly
Most NDC-12 guidance published so far, including whitepapers, technical blogs, and packaging trade coverage, is written with prescription drug manufacturers in mind. It's useful background, but it rarely addresses the risk that matters most to you: a barcode that can't be scanned at a retail register.
General GTIN and barcode technical guides can tell you how the NDC-to-GTIN relationship works. They don't tell you what your specific retail partners will actually require, or when.
Almost nobody in the current wave of NDC-12 content is speaking to OTC manufacturers as a distinct audience with a distinct risk profile.
That gap is exactly what the Forum exists to close: direct visibility into retailer expectations, before a packaging decision becomes a shelf-availability problem.
Don't find out your product can't be scanned when a customer is standing at the register. The lowest-commitment way to find out where things stand: sit in on a quarterly forum.
Get Involved
Organizational Membership
Annual Membership
$5,000
per organization
Unlimited participants from your organization
Access to all quarterly forums, strike forces, and other events
Full access to tools, outputs, and shared resources
Per-Participant Access
Virtual
Quarterly Forums
$399
per person
In-Person
Forums
TBD
per person
Attend quarterly forums on a per-person basis, ideal for organizations exploring participation before committing to full membership.
2026 Forum Dates:
September 23
December 8-9
Strike force participation available to organizational members only.