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Panelists from McKesson Corp., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Amerisource Bergen Corp., and Ahold USA recognize that while radio-frequency identification (RFID) offers promise in the pharmaceutical sector, its adoption raises questions. That message came through loud and clear at a recent gathering at the EPC Connection event, held in Chicago in October.
Packaging Hall of Fame inductee Edward J. Bauer, investigative reporter and award-winning author Katherine Eban, and Joint Equipment Transition Team (JETT) Chairman Jim John are among the speakers scheduled to make presentations at the upcoming Pharmaceutical Packaging Forum (PPF) 2008. Produced by Healthcare Packaging and Packaging World magazines, the event will be held on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at The Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia, the same venue that hosted the initial PPF March 29, 2007.
Michael Becker, director of engineering, Pfizer GmbH, reported on a four-year project, “FAST,” (Fully Automated Supply and Transport), recently completed at the firm’s Freiburg, Germany plant. The plant produces tablets and capsules of Lipitor, Valoron and Neurotin for 80 different countries in a wide variety of package configurations. The highly automated, computer integrated plan helped the plant achieve OEE comparable with other industries, depending on the equipment measured.
• Biopharmaceutical and biomedical technologies and treatments will be advanced in large part by developing countries. Although only 5% to 7% of biological products now in clinical development will actually make it to the market, they will play an important role as the life sciences industry begins to develop custom solutions for individual patients rather than focusing exclusively on the larger market. But such treatments will require a change in packaging and processing methods, as well as regulatory procedures.
At the Pharmaceutical Packaging Forum, Attorney Eric F. Greenberg revealed key Food and Drug Administration issues pertaining to healthcare packaging. Among them were drug safety, inspections, cGMPs, labeling of prescription and OTC drugs, and how a unique coalition came together last year to lobby for more FDA funding.
Interphex New York presenters Gary Lynch of Eli Lilly & Co. and Terry Petro of Bosch Packaging Technologyrecommended beginning with the finished product in mind, including risk assessment of packaging and labeling. Here are the key steps:
One of the most basic problems of controlling the costs of manufacturing and packaging pharmaceuticals has been lack of risk assessment. Until lately, pharmaceutical companies have been spending top dollar on equipment and systems to take into account every possible scenario to try to alleviate the probability of anything bad ever happening.
