Getting the Maximum Benefit from One Dose

Unit dosing has been shown to encourage patient adherence with drug regimens. While unit-dose packaging is typically seen in formats for solid oral doses, topical drugs, too, can be packaged and delivered in units.

Alcan Packaging, for instance, has developed a family of unit-dose tubes packaged under the brand umbrella of VelocitySolutions UDT. Offered for liquid, semisolid, gel, and cream drug-delivery formats, the injection-molded polypropylene tubes offer therapy adherence, convenience, ease-of-use, and branding opportunities, says Daryl Madeira, marketing director for Alcan’s contract packaging division. Offered are these styles:

• Maxim, which offers a one-handed opening capability and a tapered mouth for accurate dosing.
• MoDoCo, which offers a round nozzle with a large orifice, ideal for viscous products.
• PiercePak, which offers an activation step whereby a colored cap can be pushed down to reveal tamper evidence and to facilitate dispensing.

Novartis Animal Health U.S. Inc. (Greensboro, NC) uses the Maxim unitdose tube for its MilbeMite product line. MilbeMite (0.1% milbemycin oxime) OTIC Solution is indicated for the treatment of ear mites in cats and kittens. Proven to kill 99 to 100% of ear mites in just 7 to 30 days, Novartis reports that only one dose administered by a veterinarian is required. “The Maxim tube used for MilbeMite provides a convenient single-dose application for the customer,” explains Farren Paton, CPP, packaging engineer.

“By packaging companion-animal drugs in Maxim, for example, the veterinarian can handle the animal with one arm and open and dispense the drug with the other, ensuring adherence, accuracy, and ease,” adds Madeira.

Alcan Packaging Contract Packaging molds, decorates, fills, and secondary packages the tubes for customers, or portions thereof, if requested, says Madeira. “Through a Six Sigma, lean manufacturing process, CGMP state-of-the-art quality systems, and a flexible, versatile packaging operation, we can assemble, decorate, fill and crimp, serialize, and secondary package the tubes for an efficient, cost-effective turnkey solution,” he adds.

Alcan utilizes versatile filling equipment for unit-dose tube applications ranging from “tens of thousands to tens of millions per year,” he says. “To offer cost-effective solutions for this wide spectrum, we employ small- to large-scale tube filling lines.”

Alcan Packaging also offers decorating equipment that receives the tube, primes the surface, prints up to two colors per tube, cures the printing with UV technology and precisely assembles the cap. “The drug manufacturers can benefit from the branding of a unique look, specialty colors and appealing secondary packaging,” Madeira says.

Paton explains that the Maxim tube contains several important pieces of information such as the proprietary name of the drug, established name, lot code, expiry date, a warning statement, and a label copy control number. The pouch and carton contain the same information presented on the tube along with storage conditions, administration directions, users, product identification, etc.