Anticounterfeiting Efforts Part of Sustainable Healthcare

Could anticounterfeiting efforts help boost the economy? Last week, Arthur J. Higgins, president of EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) and CEO of Bayer Healthcare, called for “access to the best and safest medicines” before the European Parliament during the meeting, “Towards a Healthier Europe.”

“Our healthcare systems will not be sustainable in the face of Europe’s financial and demographic crisis, unless they are subject to radical reform,” Higgins said, as quoted in an EFPIA press release. “The European pharmaceutical industry is fully committed to work with governments and other stakeholders to ensure we can avoid a crisis in healthcare and instead develop healthcare systems that are fit for the 21st century.” continued

Ensuring Pharmaceutical Product Stability and Efficacy with Intelligent Sorbents

A sound packaging strategy requires the integration of all operations responsible for a product’s life cycle, from formulation to packaging and transportation and ultimately to consumer use. Factors critical to extending shelf life and protecting a drug product’s physical and chemical stability include the drug product’s chemical properties; the ingress rate of moisture, oxygen, and/or hydrocarbons through and contained within a package; the design of a package; and the choice of active packaging components. The end result is a solution that can quickly bridge the expertise gap that too often exists between formulation chemists and packaging engineers.

This approach, called Calculations through Operations, builds upon Quality by Design (QbD) principles. QbD aims to ensure a predetermined level of quality in manufacturing so that consumer risk is minimized while overall production efficiency is enhanced. For manufacturers, integrating verifiable QbD standards can not only lower costs and streamline production, but also provide potential regulatory flexibility. If quality control systems can be verified early in the production cycle, the timeline for bringing new pharmaceutical products to market could be reduced significantly. continued

Exhibitor News

Valois Pharma, exhibiting in Pharmapack Booths E31 and E33, has worked with Nycomed to deliver fentanyl nasally. Valois Pharma’s VP7 spray pump is being used for Nycomed’s Instanyl for treatment of breakthrough pain in adults undergoing opioid therapy for chronic cancer pain. Nycomed is using the VP7D version designed for preservative-free pharmaceuticals. The pump Nycomed chose features a nasal actuator ergonomically designed for comfort and ease of use. With a range of nasal and throat actuators, the VP7 maintains excellent dose accuracy, Valois Pharma reports. Hervé Pacaud, Director of Business Development, Valois Pharma, will be speaking during the conference, presenting further Valois Pharma technology in “Development of an Innovative Side Actuated Nasal Spray Device.” continued

For a complete list of Pharmapack exhibitors, click here.