Amcor Rigid Plastics has collaborated with Netherlands-based Confrérie Clinique, a leader in smart packaging solutions, to develop an innovative pill dispensing system that delivers drug compliance, user friendliness, child and senior citizen safety, and connection to any smartphone for easy tracking and monitoring.
The S.M.R.T. Bottle is a pill dispensing system that includes a clock-calendar function and unit dose tablet detector. It registers the time and date and number of doses taken from the bottles and stores the data. Using devices such as Near Field Communication (NFC) readers, the information contained in the memory can be read, displayed, and transmitted to any smartphone.
The innovative pill dispensing solution is a container that combines the benefits of a blister pack and a bottle in one package, according to Greg Rosati, Amcor’s marketing director for healthcare. “The pill dispenser is a major technological advancement that not only offers effective pill dispensing but also digital communication to ensure patient adherence,” says Rosati.
The two-piece assembly developed by Amcor and Confrérie Clinique can be designed for any pill bottle and existing filling lines with no changes required to the sealing process. Amcor injection molds the PP insert which is custom designed to match the tablet geometry. The dispenser’s electronic system, custom designed and built by Confrérie Clinique, counts pills going in or out of the bottle, tracks the temperature of the container, and ensures product integrity. It is equipped with a near frequency network communication and connected to a smartphone app that can be viewed by a physician or care giver to ensure patient medication compliance.
In addition to the track and trace features, the device is also easier for seniors to remove tablets from the container and is safer for children because it makes multiple pill removal very difficult and nearly impossible to remove the desiccant canister preventing accidental ingestion. The electronic pill dispenser is currently undergoing field trials at leading pharmaceutical companies and Amcor expects the system to be commercialized in 2017.
