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Healthcare packaging pros discuss critical issues

Healthcare packaging experts discuss counterfeiting, packaging and personalized medicine, oil/resin pricing concerns, and material and machinery advances.

Along with patient compliance, the growing global issue of counterfeit drugs can be a matter of life and death. Counterfeiting is such a thorny issue that the Food and Drug Administration already anticipates an increase in the sale of counterfeit or fraudulent treatments should the much-publicized avian flu emerge as a public health threat in the U.S.

According to a report on the www.fda.gov Web site, one of the ways the organization will continue to strengthen the safety and security of the U.S. drug supply “is to encourage pharmaceutical manufacturers to take advantage of new technologies that provide protective packaging and other features to ensure the product is both authentic and has not been tampered with.”

Earlier this year, the FDA announced “tremendous progress toward the development and implementation of a standard track-and-trace system using RFID for widespread use in the drug distribution chain. Significant advancements are also being made in developing an electronic pedigree (chain of custody) for drug products. Additionally, drug manufacturers are increasing their use of anti-counterfeiting technologies such as holograms, color-shifting inks, and covert markings on drug products and packaging.”

Medi-Flex’s Linda McBride points out that “preventing counterfeit drug products from reaching consumers is not a simple task, and the implementation of RFID is only part of the solution. Another part is the development and utilization of pedigrees that identify the path a drug product has taken from the manufacturer.”

Nancy St. Laurent of Lockwood Greene says, “RFID and other identification methods to prevent counterfeiting will affect packaging materials and equipment to handle RFID labeling. There are other methods that can be used, too, and I often hear about multi-layering of different methods for packaging materials.”

Outsourcing and contract packaging

Outsourcing of jobs to contract packagers (CPs) continues to be an important issue for many packagers, including those in the healthcare field. “I see continued outsourcing or contract packaging occurring due to the large number of start-up companies,” believes St. Laurent. “These are mostly biotech companies, but also pharmaceutical companies.”

She believes that although many CPs may have the equipment to handle existing product packaging, “that might not be the case with toxic drugs that require isolation technology, or where there are other sensitive or controlled drugs. In those cases, companies will probably build their own facility with dedicated equipment.”

RxPax’s Dana Guazzo adds, “In order to minimize costs, but still produce a quality product, pharmaceutical companies are increasingly relying on the specialized focus that contract packaging firms provide. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always address the lack of expertise available to support companies at the developmental level.”

Cardinal Health’s David Rudd anticipates that, “outsourcing will continue, especially in areas of the world where the effective labor rate is lower, whether these rates are actually lower or artificially supported by their respective governments.”

John White at Smith & Nephew Orthopedics believes outsourcing depends on a company’s “capacity issues, geographical location, core competencies, capital restraints, et cetera. A lot of energy has to be put into the selection of a contract packager. When we look at contractors, we involve a lot of Smith & Nephew expertise before we make any decisions.”

Packaging and personalized medicine

Personalized medicine is receiving media attention for its potential to treat disease through a person’s unique medical characteristics. If and when that becomes a reality is open to debate, but from a packaging perspective, individualized medicine packs the potential to revolutionize drug packaging and distribution.

St. Laurent predicts personalized medicine, “will have a tremendous impact on packaging operations. It will require innovative solutions if and when this becomes a reality. To develop personalized drugs and do it on a large scale could possibly create an entire new industry from what we know today.”

McBride sees, “Personalized packaging as a great opportunity for companies. Really, we already have it on the over-the-counter (OTC) analgesic side with the non-child-resistant cap directed towards the geriatric population.”

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