The blister packs contain two popular prescriptions, Naprosyn, used for arthritic pain, and Prevacid, for associated stomach problems. TAP spokeswoman Katherine Stueland notes that the two medications are often prescribed together.
“It made sense to package both products together, and it also means one written prescription and one co-pay,” Stueland explains. “The dosing can get confusing, but this packaging [makes] it easy for folks to follow along.” The first-of-its-kind 2-in-1 pack combines child resistance with easy opening, even for seniors with arthritis, Stueland adds.
Delivering the combined convenience is MeadWestvaco Heathcare Packaging’s Dosepak®; it was first used for a Procter & Gamble Pharmaceutical package that earned a 2003 AmeriStar Best of Show award from the Institute of Packaging Professionals (see packworld.com/go/c090).
TAP’s Dosepak consists of a folded insert made of MeadWestvaco’s 12-pt EasySeal Plus, an SBS with extrusion coating, contained within a narrow carton of 24-pt SBS decorated in four-color offset printing. A thermoformed polyvinyl chloride tab on the insert prevents the blister-carded insert from being removed until a red circle portion is depressed on the carton to release it.
The insert is affixed with a foil laminate-backed blister pack thermoformed by Anderson Packaging, which also does the contract packaging. The blister structure supplied by Tekni-Films is 10-mil polyvinyl chloride/2-mil polyethylene/6-mil Aclar® PCTFE fluoropolymer film from Honeywell Specialty Films.
TAP manufacturing technology senior manager Dennis Kim says, “After an exhaustive [one-year] search of appropriate child-resistant packages, we conducted a series of qualitative market research studies that included patients, pharmacists, and doctors. The [Dosepak] was perceived to be easier to open, intuitive to use, and more mobile for travel than other package designs.”
Each unit pack provides a week’s dosage. Four of the packs are placed into a four-count 18-pt SBS carton—also offset-printed in four colors—to provide a monthly supply.
“Physicians look forward to this,” says Stueland. “It’s a convenient alternative [to two prescriptions] for them and their patients.”
