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New Brand Protection Packaging Forum presents strategies for brand owners to protect their products from counterfeiting, diversion, and gray-market distribution, using the latest packaging-related technologies. Summit Publishing Company, publisher of Healthcare Packaging magazine, announces the launch of a new conference for brand owners looking to enhance the security of their products using the latest packaging technologies. Produced by Summit Publishing Company’s flagship magazine, Packaging World, the Brand-Protection Packaging Forum will take place on April 8, 2008 at the Chicago Marriott Schaumburg.
Since incorporating in 1993, North Brunswick, NJ-based Artegraft Inc. has used glass tubes to ship its U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved Class III natural collagen vascular grafts to hospitals, clinics, or hospital distributors. But occasional breakage during distribution and the desire to trim costs led the company to make a change this year to Eastman Chemical’s Eastar Copolyester MB002 resin. Eastman worked with O.Berk Co. to make the conversion. As a result of its transition to the tube, which incorporates a flat side, Artegraft is preventing breakage and saving money.
There exists “a great deal of misinformation” when it comes to accelerated aging of medical device packaging, said Curt Larsen of Spartan Design Group, LLC (952/380-1458), at the January 28 MD&M (Medical Design & Manufacturing) West Medical Device Packaging Conference in Anaheim, CA.
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.
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.
Health Resources LLC of Hueytown, AL, was established in 1995 as a manufacturer of natural health supplements available by mail order. Today, the company offers more than 400 different SKUs, with products that promote a range of health solutions, including joint relief, heart health, reduced inflammation, and better digestion, among many others. In March, the company began running six AirPouch™ Express 3 air-pouch void-fill systems from Automated Packaging Systems to protect its bottles of product during shipment. The switch to air-pouch void-fill systems from loose-fill peanuts increases productivity, lessens mess, and reduces costs.
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.
The results of Cardinal Health’s RFID pilot were presented at the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Integrity conference, which was held in May and was sponsored by The Institute for International Research . Cardinal’s Pharmaceutical Technologies and Services (PTS) operations were recently divested and acquired by The Blackstone Group. This information was shared by Renard Jackson, formerly VP/GM Global Packaging Services of Cardinal Health, Dublin, OH, and now with PTS.
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.
Tumi, Inc. is selling a kit for airline passengers that offers spill-proof bottles in a zippered bag. New York City-based Tumi uses O.Berk Co. PET bottles for its newest product, the Carry-On Essentials Kit. It is a response to the Transportation and Security Administration’s (TSA) latest restrictions on what passengers can take with them aboard airplanes.
Attention packagers in the healthcare business: Healthcare has entered a time of profound change. That’s according to TRAX: Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Integrity, a conference held May 3-4 in Baltimore and produced by the Institute for International Research. The conference brought the following ideas to its audience:
When a customer invests in a wheelchair, he or she wants it to be in pristine condition. So when some customers complained about nicks, scratches or dents on these medical devices, Longmont, CO-based manufacturer Sunrise Medical sought a cure. The occasional damage during shipping was attributable to the kraft paper Sunrise Medical had used to wrap metal wheelchair components such as arm rests or leg rests.
Jan Gates, principal packaging engineer at Abbott Vascular, offered the following advice during her presentation, "Medical Device Distribution Package Testing," during the Medical Device & Manufacturing (MD&M) West show.
Compliance with ANSI/AAMI/ISO 11607-parts 1 and 2 involves more than crossing items off of a checklist. It requires a medical device company to understand its applications and processes, the ability to read, visualize, and understand both parts of the standard, and the development of a strategic plan. That was the message from Randall J. Troutman, CPP and senior engineering manager with medical packaging supplier Oliver Medical during a Feb. 15 presentation at the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) show .
Jan Gates, principal packaging engineer at Abbott Vascular, offered the following advice during her presentation, “Medical Device Distribution Package Testing,” during the Medical Device & Manufacturing MD&M West show.
Spend an educational day with your peers and solution providers at the Pharmaceutical Packaging Forum (PPF) in Philadelphia March 29. The event is produced by Summit Publishing Company, publishers of Healthcare Packaging and Packaging World business publications. Seats are going quickly, so register soon.
Abbott Vascular's Jan Gates will chair a Feb. 15 Medical Device and Packaging session that includes Part I, Packaging Engineering, from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m., followed by Part II, Packaging Validation and Compliance from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The session is part of Medical Design and Manufacturing West event at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA. The conference will be held Feb. 12-15, while the exposition runs from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Feb. 13-14, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 15.
* container lock in at the following temperatures: 4° C, 22° C, -20° C, and -50° C
* fully self-contained, they do not require any wet or dry ice, or gel packs
* developed in conjunction with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, containers are deployed throughout all military branches for the transport of blood, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals
Minnesota Thermal Science, LLC
A report from Sept. 25-28's 4th Annual Cold Chain Distribution for Pharmaceuticals forum focusing on temperature-controlled packaging, shipping, distribution, and storage for pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals.
The two companies recently signed multi-year commercial agreements for the temperature-controlled packaging and cold chain market in North America. TCP will serve as the exclusive reseller and distributor of ATP’s cold chain services and monitoring solutions in the United States. ATP will be the exclusive agent of TCP’s temperature-controlled packaging solutions in Canada. The companies also agreed to install in Laval, Quebec, Canada, a joint-venture laboratory for all design and testing activities related to temperature-controlled and cold chain packaging in Canada.
High-altitude transportation of goods has created unique problems in maintaining the integrity of the packaging. Ground transportation through higher elevations and air transportation via cargo and feeder aircraft with either partial or no pressurization results in a high incidence of reports of packaging failure. Packages sealed at or near sea level will experience an increased pressure differential on the seal/closure/finish with exposure to higher elevations. This pressure differential can cause leaks.
For the past four years, Michigan State University’s School of Packaging has been involved in studies to determine the effects of simultaneous vibration and low pressure on package integrity. These projects, funded by the Federal Aviation Administration and conducted by the Consortium of Distribution Packaging Research, aim to identify problems with existing packages and develop new test methods that can reduce the number of leaks in air shipments. Among the test results were the following:
• Wide-mouth samples (>28-mm) leaked more than narrow-mouth ones.
• HDPE bottles leaked more than glass bottles: 30.3% vs 20.6%, respectively.
• The average failure rate (leaks) for the entire study was 25.4%.
• Closure back-off was not observed in any of the leakers. This was verified by putting aligned ink marks on the cap and bottle, then testing for misalignment.
• Higher failure rates for the HDPE samples can be attributed to several effects: larger tolerances in finish specifications for plastic bottles and closures as compared to glass bottles and phenolic closures; the effect of temperature and creep; and that plastic bottles tend to “panel” (buckle inward)
when the headspace air escapes, taking product with it.
• The overall failure rate for a liner made from a PE foam core between two PE sheet layers was 91 leakers out of 270 samples tested, or 33.7%; 22.2% for PVC liners. A larger percentage of PVC liners with paperboard backing showed swelling and delamination during the test, resulting in package failure and leaks. The overall failure for linerless closures was 20% of the 270 samples tested.
• Recommended application torques on closures, consistent with industry practice, do not prevent leaks.
• Leaks were observed in samples that retained a residual removal torque after the test, so the closures retained some tightness.
