Q.01

What is a DIN number in Canada?

A DIN (Drug Identification Number) is the number Health Canada assigns to a drug product before it can be sold in Canada. Health Canada's DIN submission guideline defines it as "an eight (8) digit numerical code assigned to each drug product marketed under the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations" [1].

What a DIN identifies. According to the same guideline, one DIN covers one combination of manufacturer, brand name, medicinal ingredient(s), strength of each ingredient, pharmaceutical form and route of administration. If any of these differ, a separate DIN submission is required [1].

The legal requirement (Food and Drug Regulations, C.R.C., c. 870, Part C, Division 1):

  • The ban on selling without one (C.01.014(1)): "No manufacturer shall sell a drug in dosage form unless a drug identification number has been assigned for that drug and the assignment of the number has not been cancelled under section C.01.014.6" [2].

  • Exemptions (C.01.014(2)): the requirement does not apply to veterinary health products, study drugs as defined in C.03.301, or medicated feeds under the Feeds Regulations, 2024 [2].

  • Applying (C.01.014.1): the manufacturer applies to the Minister in writing. The application shall include, among other things:

    • the manufacturer's name;
    • the pharmaceutical form and route of administration;
    • a quantitative list of medicinal ingredients by proper or common name;
    • the brand name;
    • the recommended use and dosage;
    • label mock-ups (or label text, for veterinary drugs);
    • for human drugs, an assessment of whether the brand name could be confused with another drug's name.

    [3]

  • New drugs (C.01.014.1(3)): a new drug is a separate regulatory category under Division 8 of the Regulations. For these, a filed New Drug Submission, Abbreviated New Drug Submission or Extraordinary Use New Drug Submission is "regarded as an application for a drug identification number" [3].

  • Issuing (C.01.014.2): once the application is complete, the Minister "shall issue" a document giving the number, preceded by "DIN". A drug sold under two or more brand names gets a separate DIN for each brand name. The Minister "may refuse" if there are reasonable grounds to believe the product is not a drug, or that selling it would harm the buyer or user or break the Act or Regulations. The manufacturer may then send more information and ask for reconsideration [4].

Related guidance. Health Canada also publishes guidance on:

  • post-DIN changes [5];
  • cancelling a DIN and notifying that sales have stopped [6];
  • DINs for Schedule C radiopharmaceuticals and kits [7].

You can look up any assigned DIN in Health Canada's Drug Product Database.

Approach: I searched the consolidated Food and Drug Regulations on Justice Laws Canada and Health Canada's drug guidance catalogue. I did not confirm the rule on showing the DIN on the label from the regulatory text.

Q.02

Where can I find it and look it up?

You'll find the DIN on the product's label. You can look it up in Health Canada's Drug Product Database (DPD), which you can search by DIN, brand name or company.

Where it appears on the product

The labelling rule is section C.01.005 of the Food and Drug Regulations (C.R.C., c. 870).

  • Rule: the principal display panel of both the inner label and the outer label of a drug in dosage form "shall show" the DIN. It must be preceded by "Drug Identification Number", "Drogue : identification numérique", or the abbreviation "DIN" [8].
  • Exemption for compounded drugs: the rule does not apply to a drug a pharmacist compounds under a prescription, or that a practitioner compounds [8].
  • Exemption for prescription drugs: it also does not apply to a drug sold under a prescription if the label shows the drug's proper, common or brand name, its potency, and the manufacturer's name. In that case a dispensed product may carry no DIN on its label [8].
  • What "drug in dosage form" means: a drug ready for the consumer to use without further manufacturing [8].

Looking it up in the Drug Product Database

Each DPD record gives:

  • the DIN;
  • the brand name;
  • the company;
  • the class (for example, Human);
  • a product descriptor;
  • the date the record was last updated.

You can search in either direction: from a DIN to the product, or from a brand to all its DINs. For example, a search for Ozempic (Novo Nordisk Canada Inc., class Human) returns five separate DINs, one for each pen presentation:

DINDescriptorLast updated
024714770.25 mg or 0.5 mg doses, multidose prefilled pen, 1.5 mL solution2026-09-22 [9]
025626180.25 mg or 0.5 mg doses, multidose prefilled pen, 3 mL solution2026-09-22 [10]
025402580.25 mg or 0.5 mg doses, multidose prefilled pen2026-08-13 [11]
024714691 mg doses, multidose prefilled pen2026-08-13 [12]
025626261 mg doses, multidose prefilled pen2026-08-13 [13]

This fits the rule from the previous answer that each combination of brand, strength and form gets its own DIN.

Tips for searching:

  • Enter all eight digits, including any leading zeroes (for example, 02471477).
  • If you search by brand, expect several DINs per product.

Health Canada also publishes the DPD data through a public interface at health-products.canada.ca/api/drug/drugproduct/ [9].

Approach: I searched the consolidated Food and Drug Regulations (Justice Laws Canada), Health Canada's Drug Product Database and its drug guidance catalogue. I didn't confirm the address of the DPD's public search web page itself; the link above is the data interface given in the database records.

If you have a specific DIN or brand, I can look it up for you.

Q.03