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Watson Laboratories’ Glipizide Key.In package won the 2007 Compliance Package of the Year award from the Healthcare Compliance Packaging Council . The package, a unique carded wallet, is manufactured by Nosco for Watson Laboratories. The pack functions with a removable key card that must be inserted into a lock in order to access the blisters within.
Two pharmaceuticals and one medical device package were among those to win the Institute of Packaging Professionals’ 2007 AmeriStar Awards. In the Pharmaceutical and Drug category, Mylan Pharmaceuticals chose MeadWestvaco Health & Beauty Packaging’s Shellpak (shown) to answer Wal-Mart's challenge to its generic prescription drug producers to provide cost-effective, patient-adherence packaging.
A cloud of uncertainty hangs over the pharmaceutical industry in Puerto Rico following the expiration of tax incentives from Section 936 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Could emerging combinations of biopharmaceuticals and medical devices provide a silver lining? A report from Interphex Puerto Rico.
Certain types of cancer are becoming "chronic" diseases and call for changes in packaging, according to Dr. Joseph Gligorov, an oncologist in France. He made these remarks February 6, 2008, at Pharmapack in Paris, France, during a session titled, "Cancer Treatment: The Emerging Role of Packaging." While cancer rates are growing around the world, from 10 million cases diagnosed in 2000 to 15 million projected in 2020, many of these are due to the aging population, people who may also suffer from a variety of other ailments. More than 650 drugs to fight cancer are currently in the pipeline.
Pharmaceutical firms seek packaging line improvements to cut costs, biologics present packaging challenges, and medical device growth is driven by aging baby boomers. These treatment advances bode well for the healthcare/life sciences packaging community. Packaging materials need to offer protection from point of manufacture to the “last mile” where healthcare products reach a patient. Packaging materials must provide barriers for moisture, oxygen, light and heat, and they may include overt and/or covert security measures to combat counterfeiting and diversion. Equipment will need to package products more efficiently, be validatable and versatile.
Healthcare Packaging and Packaging World, producers of the Pharmaceutical Packaging Forum, and Ipack-Ima Spa, organizers of Pharmintech, announce a cooperative agreement in which Healthcare Packaging and Packaging World will offer promotional support to Ipack-Ima Spa, increasing the visibility for their Italian trade event, Pharmintech, to the U.S. pharmaceutical market. Pharmintech, held every three years in Italy, will next take place May 12th -14th, 2010 in Bologna, Italy.
Market demand for pre-filled syringes is growing faster than suppliers can build capacity, with project lead times pushing 35 months. This fact was revealed during a Q&A session following a presentation on trends in biotechnology at Optima Pharma Group’s open house, held in Germany in June.
At this year’s Interphex conference and exhibition event in New York, the Healthcare Compliance Packaging Council (HCPC) selected its 2006 Compliance Package of the Year awards. The PocketPak (shown) earned package of the year honors. Reportedly used in England by Boots Pharmacies, PocketPak uses a patented design developed by Burgopak and Structural Graphics.
The Flexible Packaging Association awarded a Special Citation for Social Responsibility for a multilayer foil-laminated pouch that allows HIV-positive mothers in Kenya, Africa to give their newborn babies a dose of Nevirapine oral suspension within 24 hours of birth, when the fast-acting drug is most effective in reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1. The award was announced February 28 during the FPA’s 2007 Achievement Awards at the association’s annual meeting in Aventura, FL.
Drug delivery devices, advances in combination products, and biologics/biopharmaceuticals will present both challenges and opportunities for packagers. New packages and drug delivery methods for over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, nutraceutical and cosmeceutical products are appearing on retail drug and grocery store shelves. (Part II of II)
Bioabsorbable stents, such as Abbott's Absorb, may soon open a new pathway in the treatment of coronary artery disease, and challenge the packaging process. In late October, Abbott Park, IL-based Abbott Laboratories delivered encouraging news regarding the initial results of a clinical trial involving its Absorb bioabsorbable drug-eluting stent for the treatment of coronary artery disease.
Vital issues include validation, FDA regulations, counterfeiting, and the challenges of shipping pharmaceuticals and biologics through the cold chain. (Part I of II)... Surely one of the most interesting developments to unfold lately in the healthcare product manufacturing arena is the formation of the Coalition for a Stronger FDA. The coalition came together officially on Sept. 25 with former government officials, patient group representatives, consumer advocacy organizations, and industry associations bringing it into existence.
• tip area of its plunger is made of a patent-pending, 1-pc design that uses a flexible wiper to eliminate the need for a separate plunger tip, reducing the risk of choking and product contamination
• Model 535 machine is for dosing and closing nested syringes and containers
• for pharma and biotech companies looking to automate and/or validate product filling in clinical trials or development
• handles up to 2,000 containers/hour
By mid-year, a multicomponent inhaler containing Pfizer's Exubera insulin powder will offer diabetics the first inhaled form of the drug, eliminating the need for an injection.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Exubera for adults with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes January 27, a day after the European Commission approved the product for use in the European Union. Exubera's efficacy and safety was studied in more than 2,500 adults (including both diabetes types) for an average of 20 months.
A Feb. 7 article at www.fdanews.com described Exubera as “the first new insulin delivery option introduced since the discovery of insulin in the 1920s.”
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, makers of nutraceuticals and over-the-counter cold and flu remedies truly must appreciate the success of breath freshener strips, which debuted about three years ago. The strips dissolve quickly on the tongue, they eliminate the need to measure and pour a liquid dose of medicine, and the pocket-sized rigid plastic cases that protect the strips provide consumer convenience.
Needle phobias may soon be a thing of the past. Transdermal patches are going high tech to make drug delivery more convenient—and more pleasant. The materials to package them are already in use today. Here are a few options currently under development:
• Micro-needles. Embedded in a patch, micro-needles are applied to the skin where they can inject a drug or release it slowly over time. The needles are about as long as the width of a hair and cannot be seen or felt.
• PassPort patch. Developed by Altea, the PassPort patch, which contains a reservoir of the drug, uses thermal energy to create a micro-pore channel in the skin’s surface. A handheld device is applied to the patch, delivering an electrical current that ablates the skin’s surface.
