Spain · Pharma · World first

The first medicine in the world that reads itself out loud for blind people.

In October 2024 Laboratorios Cinfa announced a project that is unprecedented in the global pharmaceutical industry: adding NaviLens codes to every carton and patient leaflet of its medicines and health products so that blind and low-vision people can hear the drug name, presentation, dose, expiry date, batch number and the full leaflet content from their phone camera — without aiming and from several metres away.

Cinfa Variliv Diosmina Forte 1,000 mg carton with a NaviLens code printed on the box for blind and low-vision patients.

Oct 2024: Announcement: world's first pharma with NaviLens
1,500: SKUs in Cinfa's Spanish formulary
>1 M: People with sight loss in Spain (INE)
1 in 10: Blind people in Spain who can read Braille

Laboratorios Cinfa · Huarte, Navarre (Spain)

Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Huarte (Navarre), Cinfa is the leading pharmaceutical lab in Spain by units dispensed in pharmacy. Its catalogue covers more than 1,500 presentations across prescription drugs, OTC, food supplements, dermo-pharmacy, oral health, infant nutrition and consumer health (Variliv®, NeoStrata®, Be+, Aquilea, Dailove and others).

After 18 months of technical and regulatory validation with NaviLens, Cinfa announced on 7 October 2024 that it had become the world's first pharmaceutical company to roll out NaviLens on its packaging. The first Cinfa prescription medicines with NaviLens codes are already on Spanish pharmacy shelves, and the rollout will extend across the rest of the catalogue as AEMPS and other health authorities approve each new labelling variation.

01
Braille doesn't reach those who need it
EU regulation requires the drug name to be embossed in Braille on every carton, yet only 1 in 10 blind people in Spain can actually read it. For 9 out of 10 blind patients, the carton is still an anonymous box.
02
Tiny print on carton and leaflet
Dose, active ingredient, batch, expiry, warnings and contraindications are printed in 6–8 pt across a multi-fold leaflet. Low-vision, elderly and many chronic patients cannot read it without a magnifier or outside help.
03
Clinical risk of pack confusion
Mixing up two similar blisters — an antihypertensive and an antibiotic, two generics, an adult and a paediatric dose — has real clinical consequences. Pack accessibility isn't cosmetic; it's patient safety.
04
Without touching the regulated carton layout
Pharma cartons and leaflets are regulatory pieces audited by AEMPS. Any accessibility help had to add information without changing the approved layout, without displacing the Braille and while respecting the rest of pharma labelling obligations.

Cinfa and NaviLens print a high-contrast code — an "accessible QR" — in a reserved area of the carton and the leaflet, leaving the Braille, drug name, active ingredient and the rest of the mandatory items untouched. The free NaviLens and NaviLens GO apps detect it from several metres away, without aiming, even in low light and on the move, and read it out loud in the user's language.

The system speaks the medicine name, presentation (mg, tablets, millilitres), expiry date, batch number and the full leaflet content: indications, posology, contraindications, warnings, interactions and excipients. All this information lives in the backend, so it can be kept up to date without reprinting cartons and, as the rollout matures, extended with accessible audio, described images and sign-language video.

The technical challenge, in the words of NaviLens CEO Javier Pita, was getting the code to be "perfect" on very different packagings — from a small blister to a cream-style box — and to deliver an excellent user experience in every case. The first wave of NaviLens-enabled SKUs are prescription medicines, and the rollout will progress across the formulary as each new presentation is approved.

“Cuando conocimos la tecnología NaviLens, tuvimos claro que queríamos implantarla en todos nuestros medicamentos y soluciones de salud. Un proyecto que, en línea con nuestro propósito, nos permite avanzar para hacer la salud accesible a todas las personas.”

Julio MasetChief Scientific Officer · Grupo CinfaFuente

“Trabajar con Cinfa ha supuesto para nosotros un gran salto. Es la primera iniciativa que desarrollamos en el marco de la innovación en salud. El equipo técnico de Cinfa se ha volcado desde el primer momento para contribuir a una mejora en la calidad de vida de las personas con discapacidad visual.”

Javier PitaCEO · NaviLensFuente

2023
Technical validation kicks off
Cinfa and NaviLens start 18 months of testing on cartons, leaflets and special formats (blisters, syrups, creams, vials) to ensure flawless reading anywhere in the pharmacy aisle.
Oct 2024
World announcement · 1st pharma in the world
On 7 October 2024 Cinfa publicly announces NaviLens integration on its medicines: the first pharmaceutical company in the world to do it at industrial scale. Coverage in El Periódico, La Sexta, Innovaspain, Diariofarma, Corresponsables and OK Diario Navarra.
Oct 2024
First units on shelf
The first Cinfa prescription medicines with NaviLens codes reach Spanish pharmacies. Anyone can scan them with the free NaviLens app.
2025 →
Gradual rollout to 1,500 SKUs
As labelling variations are approved by AEMPS and other authorities, the rollout will extend across the full Cinfa formulary in Spain: prescription drugs, OTC, supplements, dermo-pharmacy and nutrition.