Packaging films do not just protect pharmaceutical products from damage. They can also play an important role in drug authentication and in promoting drug compliance in patients.
Two of the most important patient safety concerns today relating to prescription drugs are patient medication compliance and drug authenticity. Packaging films have a crucial role to play in addressing both of these concerns.
With loose pills in a bottle, it is difficult for patients to ensure that they have taken their medication as prescribed, while the protective benefits of security features on outer packaging, if they are present, may be lost if drugs are removed and repackaged. One solution to this problem is blister packaging, which has been shown to improve patient adherence, reduce medication errors and, according to a recent study conducted by Ohio State University, improve health outcomes.
However, while blister packaging is used in more than 85% of solid oral prescription drugs outside the US, less than 20% of drugs in the US are dispensed in this manner.
Patient benefits
Blister packaging can have a major impact on patient adherence, because a patient, by simply looking at the package, can determine from labelling whether they have remembered to take their medication or not. Clear blister packs allow patients to become familiar with the size, shape and colour of their medication. Blister packaging also has security benefits. It is often a patient’s first line of defence in detecting a counterfeit drug by making it easy to detect adulteration or tampering.
Superior performance
Honeywell Aclar® clear packaging films provide superior barrier performance, lowering the total cost of ownership compared with foil packaging products. Aclar is used by almost all major pharmaceutical companies to protect their critical applications. It protects them by locking out moisture, providing up to ten times the barrier protection of other transparent films, such as PVC and polypropylene. Aclar
has also performed extremely well under accelerated International Conference on Harmonisation testing, increasing speed to market.
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Safe and secure
Blister packaging improves the integrity and safety of the drug supply chain, as prescriptions remain in their primary packaging from manufacturer to patient. Furthermore, security features can be incorporated into each blister pack so that security protection stays with a drug, even if it is removed from its original bulk or outer packaging. Securing of blister packaging improves the efficacy of an anti-counterfeiting solution by making it significantly more difficult to separate product security features from the prescription.
Honeywell, a market leader in packaging and security technologies, is today developing novel ways of adding security features to blister packaging films, with the goal of addressing concerns about patient adherence and security. Aclar film combined with Honeywell authentication technologies is the perfect solution for protecting critical applications.
Company profile
Honeywell is a long-standing provider of security technologies for the protection of goods and value documents. The company is a founding member of the International Authentication Association, a practice-based community of users and suppliers dedicated to reducing counterfeiting globally through education, awareness and collaboration.
For further information, email product.authentication@honeywell.com
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