Drug inspection apparatus and method

A drug inspection method for inspecting drugs that are prepared based on prescription information and are packaged in a prescription bag using a drug inspection apparatus, the method comprising:

• acquiring drug images of only drugs prepared according to a prescription from a drug database that stores drug images of drugs that can be prepared and only drugs similar to the drugs prepared according to the prescription from the drug database, by the drug inspection apparatus;
• determining not to perform an image comparison based on a determination that the prepared drugs and the number of the prepared drugs are determined to be simultaneously indistinguishable from different drugs in the drug database and outputting a result of the determination not to perform the image comparison;
• comparing a captured image obtained by capturing an image of the prepared drugs with the drug images acquired from the drug database and determining to which drug each drug present in the captured image corresponds and the number of drugs by the drug inspection apparatus, in a case in which the plurality of drugs are prescribed at the same time in the prescription;
• and
• determining whether or not the prepared drugs and a number of the prepared drugs match the prescription information based on the prescription information by the drug inspection apparatus,
• wherein drug images of drugs, which are located at a distance within a predetermined threshold value from a position in a feature space of physical characteristics of prepared drugs, are acquired as the drug images of the drugs similar to the prepared drugs.