The European falsified medicines directive (FMD) was initially designed to protect patients by minimizing the chances of counterfeit medicines entering into the current and approved medicine supply chain in that country. With the goal of enabling manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers, distributors to both authenticate and verify medical products, the falsified medicines directive attempts to protect everyone, from consumers who might take counterfeit medications to manufacturers who spend great amounts of money developing new products.
In addition to protecting both consumers and manufacturers from falsified medications, however, the technologies that were developed to track and trace pharmaceuticals have also served a number of other purposes. For instance, with the development of individual blister packaging designs, everyone can know the identity of every single tablet, capsule, ampule, and other types of medication. In fact, the current labeling and stamping of individual pills can also be traced back to the identification procedures that were put in place as the pharmaceutical packaging companies worked to create a more safe and verifiable product.
Consider some of these facts and figures that are now common practice in the pharmaceutical packaging industry, although many of the technologies may have been initially developed to meet the needs of falsified medicines directives:
- Kids and infants are often at the most risk of getting a hold of medications that are not meant for them, and that could be dangerous to them if swallowed
- E-pedigree solutions allow manufacturers to label individual pills and tablets as well as larger items like ampules and syringes.
- Epipens have been in the news in the last two years, both for the high prices and their recalls. Pharma track and trace measures ensure that individual epipens are easier to identify in the event of a recall.
- Pouch packaging is often used for pharmaceuticals because it offers the option of measured doses in prepackaged, and easy to identify, containers.
- Implementing the falsified medicines directive was a European regulation that may have advanced
- No parent wants to handle the guilt of medicine that is accidentally accessed by a child.
- Getting the right medicine is essential to a patient’s health. The use of individually distributed drugs in a hospital setting, for instance, is better facilitated to very specific and exact medical packaging techniques.
- Making sure that medications are out of reach, even when they are in child proof containers, is a safety precaution that all parents should take.
- Estimates indicate that 48.5% of Americans have used at least one prescription drug in the past 30 days.
- Doctors and pharmacies ordered or provided 2.6 billion prescription drugs during or after visits with physicians in the year 2010.
- Including identification marks on each individual pills can help patients of all ages identify their prescriptions.
- Carded blister packaging is popular in the pharmaceutical industry because of the ability it offers to give advertisements and information about the product, but also keeping it safe and secure in a package.
- A blister package that folds onto itself is typically called a clamshell.
- There are several ways to customize blister packaging, including style, color, and container options.
- Including bar code printing for identification purposes is a option that many bottle packaging employ.
- One aspect of blister packaging is the pocket or cavity or pocket made by formable web, which keeps the product less likely to get damaged and safer.
- New packaging techniques lead to safer distribution of the most powerful medications in the industry.
- Statistics indicate that 75% of medical visits involve some kind of drug therapy.
- Some pharmaceutical companies require customized packaging for injectable products that include sterilized bottles and auto injector pens.
- All blister packaging with PVC and foil combinations allows for a more durable and thicker packaging for any product.
- Foil packaging techniques are an option for households that do not include young children because they are not always considered tamper resistant.
- Every blister package that is used for pharmaceuticals typically includes peelable lamination to facilitate easier opening.