The national medicines data repository will be named Farmasto, ushering in a new era of how authorities manage medicines data

Authorities in Finland are currently building a national medicines data repository, which will be called Farmasto. Farmasto will bring together up-to-date, reliable and official information on medicines in a way never seen before. All contents and services will be available online at farmasto.fi.

Once launched, Farmasto will serve as the primary source of information on medicinal products for the authorities at the national level.

 “Farmasto will provide easily available and centralised access to information on medicines exactly when it is needed”, Johanna Seppänen, Fimea’s Director of Development and Information Services, explains.

The name Farmasto refers to pharmacy (farmasia in Finnish), or the science and expertise of the pharmaceutical sector, but also to a place where all drug information can be found easily and reliably. The name Farmasto also communicates systematic approach and expertise.

 “Farmasto is designed to meet the needs of a wide range of users. Going forward, there will be a significant change in how the authorities disseminate drug information to different target groups, such as the public, healthcare professionals and health technology companies. This is a step towards more open and modern dissemination of information”, Seppänen says.

Farmasto has its own logo and visual identity. The clean and modern logo communicates data structures, systematic approach and reliability. The visual identity has been designed by marketing and communications agency Valve.

 

Farmasto development partners will begin work in early 2026

The medicines data repository project will take a huge leap forward when the year changes.

 “I am pleased to announce that the practical building of Farmasto will begin in 2026. We are delighted to move on to bringing the repository closer to reality after a long planning and preparation stage”, says Johanna Seppänen.

The information produced by Farmasto must be of high quality, reliable and up to date. The services and contents must genuinely meet the everyday needs and expectations of the users, which is why the partners providing the expert services needed to create Farmasto were selected based on expertise in the implementation and user-centric development of extensive and secure services that require robust expertise.

Tieto Tech Consulting, an expert organisation in technology consultancy and software development, was selected through competitive tendering as the contractor providing the data platform, databases and information management solutions. The platform will serve as the basis for storing, organising and processing data.

 “We want to do our part to ensure that the project will support the authorities’ efforts and improve medicines data management in Finland”, says Antti Pudas, Head of Public Services Business at Tieto Tech Consulting. “We will facilitate the provision of more efficient and secure medicines data management services, and we are committed to delivering a successful end product.”

The client-facing website and the related user services will be provided Meltlake, a consulting firm specialising in Microsoft technologies.

“We are proud to be involved in this project to build a service for Fimea which will benefit both the professionals and the public”, says Maiju Immonen, Chief Commercial Officer at Meltlake. “Together, we will build the online service with the users’ needs in mind to ensure it meets the expectations of the target audiences.”

What is a medicines data repository?

The goal of Farmasto is to provide information on human and veterinary medicinal products in one place so that the information can be more easily found and used. In the future, all important information on medicinal products can be accessed through the authorities’ joint online service.

Development of the repository is coordinated by the Finnish Medicines Agency Fimea. The project will be carried out in cooperation with the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and the Pharmaceuticals Pricing Board (Hila). The development of the medicines data repository is part of the Government Programme and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health’s Pharmaceuticals and Pharmacy Economy project.

Read more about Farmasto (Fimea webpage)