NEW EVENT! Cutting-edge Trends for Every Industry at PACK EXPO Southeast
Discover packaging & processing solutions for all industries at the all-new PACK EXPO Southeast in Atlanta, GA, March 10-12, 2025
LAST CHANCE! Register ASAP for $30

Report: Innovative new pharmaceutical at PACK EXPO

Covering 1.2 million net sq ft of exhibit space and drawing 2,500 exhibitors, PACK EXPO International brought 50,000 attendees to the biggest packaging event of the year. Here is our report on new pharmaceutical.

PACK EXPO International
PACK EXPO International

Each year the editors at PMMI Media Group roam the aisles of PACK EXPO looking for the next big thing in the packaging sector. Of course, with a show this size it’s never one big thing we find but rather a multitude of things big, medium, and small, all of them innovative and meaningful in one way or another to packaging professionals of today.

This report sums up what we found in six main categories. We present them here for your review knowing full well that, inevitably, we missed a few. Probably more than a few. That’s where you come in. Let us know what we missed and we’ll look into it. Or at the very least, we’ll know to be on the lookout for it at the next PACK EXPO.

Our report comes to you from the following:

Matt Reynolds, Editor, Packaging World

Pat Reynolds, VP Editor Emeritus, Packaging World

Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor, Packaging World; Editor, Contract Packaging

Stephanie Neal, Senior Editor, Automation World; Editor-in-Chief, OEM

Joyce Fassl, Editor-in-Chief, ProFood World

Maya Norris, Managing Editor, ProFood World

Natalie Craig, Managing Editor, OEM

Jim Butschli, Editor, Healthcare Packaging

Keren Sookne, Director of Editorial Content, Healthcare Packaging

PHARMACEUTICAL

SMART LABELING
The healthcare community is just beginning to harness the power of smartphone technology as a tool to improve patient health outcomes and connect rungs of what is a complex supply chain. And packaging will play a role: in this instance, in the form of electronic “smart” labels.

That was made clear during a dazzling presentation on the Healthcare Packaging EXPO 2018 Innovation Stage entitled, “Electronic Clinical Label with Flexible Display,” by John Bratton, Director of Coding Automation for CCL Label.

CCL’s new label platform uses smartphone technology (1) to improve medication adherence by engaging patients, clinicians, and health organizations. Bratton referred to studies indicating that only 45% to 78% of clinical trial patients are compliant with treatments for chronic conditions. That could result in the need for study extensions, which comes at the cost of needing additional patients, needing additional time, or potentially the loss of the entire study.

Bratton said CCL Healthcare’s digital platform addresses the complexities of clinical trials and can be used as a stand-alone application via smart label by tapping NFC, scanning a 2D barcode, or pairing to CCL’s Electronic Clinical Label. The technology allows for checking clinical study progress in real time, offering the ability to improve studies from start to finish, with live notifications that provide indicators of non-compliance, diversion, authenticity, and track and trace.

In a follow-up interview, Bratton explained, “The platform has been designed to cover multiple applications across clinical trial and commercial offerings alike. This system was originally launched for the clinical trials market, to highlight the vast benefits the platform can provide to that specific market. During the course of 2019, we will be showcasing how those benefits will apply to numerous other suitors across multiple markets and application types.”

He said CCL is working with “a very large clinical company that services a worldwide client base and involves multiple languages as well as emerging markets.”

CCL provides clinical trial clients fingerprinted labels, including electronics for benefits such as temperature monitoring, which are integrated into their standard label format. “Once on pack,” he explained, “the labels are activated by accessing our unique database and mobile App to provide a communication path between component and patient.”

LABEL PRINTER/VISION SYSTEM
Weiler Labeling Systems and Antares Vision collaborated on a high-speed printer and inspection system (2) for narrow webs for OTC, pharma, and more. Weiler Labeling Systems (WLS), a ProMach product brand, displayed its new LP-100R on-demand label printer. Printer applications include printing variable data on pre-printed labels and on-demand printing the entire label from “bright stock,” as needed.

Antares Vision’s new Total Layout Control (TLC) vision inspection system for narrow webs made its global debut on WLS’ LP-100R. Designed specifically for the LP-100R, the narrow web TLC—which comprises a line-scan camera, computer, HMI, and software—is capable of whole-label inspection, including image matching, code reading, and color verification.

The CE-marked and UL-certified LP-100R is designed for manufacturers and contract packagers of over-the-counter (OTC) and regulated pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, biotech products, and more. Delivering digital flexibility, the stand-alone high-speed LP-100R eliminates the need to inventory distinct labels for each product while its high resolution and print wear resistance on a wide variety of substrates helps to maximize label quality and permanence.

The LP-100R is an extension of the company’s LP-100 prototype, which was shown at PACK EXPO last year with favorable feedback. After extensive market research to determine the desired capabilities, the LP-100R was born.

Featuring a UV-curing, drop-on-demand (DOD) printer, the LP-100R can print linear barcodes, serialized 2D data matrix barcodes, and human readable codes as well as high-impact visual graphics in full color or black-and-white at speeds up to 4,700 in./min.

When combined with an appropriate vision inspection system and WLS’ optional “reconciler,” the LP-100R will automatically remove any out-of-tolerance labels from the label roll. WLS can equip the LP-100R with no vision system or virtually any standard or customer-specified vision system for inspecting variable data. For whole-label printing applications, a specialized new whole-label vision inspection system was developed.

The LP-100R can handle a label roll size up to 18 in. (457 mm) in diameter with a 3-in. (76-mm) diameter core. Featuring balcony-style construction and an integrated electrical enclosure, the compact label printer is designed to meet the requirements of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers.

Print changes are quickly made via recipe downloads on the color touchscreen HMI. Label styles can be changed in less than five minutes with no tools required and no change parts. Low level, end-of-web, and broken web detection can be programmed to flash a light and/or send an alarm to operators. The HMI is password protected with multiple levels of access to help secure the operation. Equipped with Ethernet ports, the LP-100R can be connected to plant-wide networks to share data for reporting purposes and enable remote diagnostics.

INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for All Industries at PACK EXPO Southeast
The exciting new PACK EXPO Southeast 2025 unites all vertical markets in one dynamic hub, generating more innovative answers to your production challenges. Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity for your business!
REGISTER FOR $30!
INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for All Industries at PACK EXPO Southeast
New e-book on Flexible Packaging
In this e-book, you’ll learn key considerations for vertical and horizontal f/f/s and how to choose between premade bags and an f/f/s system. Plus, discover the pitfalls to avoid on bagging machinery projects.
download
New e-book on Flexible Packaging