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Inviting packaging to the product development table

Bringing packaging to the product development process benefits package design, patient compliance, and patent expiry issues.

Logistics and packaging
Logistics and packaging

Packaging isn’t always at the table during the early stages of the product development process at pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

“Only recently has the value of packaging begun to be fully appreciated in bringing a new product to market,” says Richard Adams, head of Pack Graphic Design at GlaxoSmithKline’s Raleigh-Durham, NC, facility. “Of course, primary packaging is considered much earlier on in the process due to stability and clinical trial requirements. However, secondary packaging is now being thought of as a true value add, especially in the areas of adherence, compliance, anti-counterfeiting, and cost of goods. We now have several ‘programs’ that are focused on securing packaging a prominent ‘place at the head table.’”

The primary/secondary packaging issue was also noted by Philip Dahlin, senior manager of sustainability for the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. “Packaging is considered very early on in Pharmaceuticals,” he explains. “We break out packaging in a couple of different ways. Anything that has primary contact with the drug, and anything that can have an impact on dosing, like a syringe, is considered very early in the process. Secondary or tertiary packaging comes in a little bit later, because that’s determined more on a local market basis.

“Packaging is especially involved early on in the development process if you are going to try and incorporate a new material such as a bio-based material,” Dahlin notes. “You have to identify the right application and pull it in early enough, as these things take years to implement and to obtain certifications for use. There are long validation efforts and many stability and shipping studies to understand how a new material performs. It also could require equipment changes and retooling.”

“At Smith & Nephew, we use a phased-review process during new product development,” explains Jason Strachota, packaging development engineer II with the company’s Advance Surgical Devices Div. “During the product development process, one of our packaging engineers sits on the launch team as the project is chartered. The Packaging Development team remains involved with both upstream and downstream activities during a product launch. We are now incorporating sustainability-related parameters into the formal product design process.”

Such proactive packaging approaches haven’t always been the case. “There is some effort to bring packaging development in sooner but package engineering is generally part of an operations group, not R&D,” says Jan Gates, owner and founder of PackWise Consulting, with more than 30 years of experience in package engineering with foods, pharmaceuticals, detergent, and medical device companies.

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