PACKAGING PLAY KEY ROLE DURING COVID-19

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Abstract :-

During these unprecedented times, pharmaceutical companies are responding to the rapid challenges arising from disruption in supply chains and the need to change business processes. The pharmaceutical packaging market is constantly advancing. During COVID-19 packaging play key role as with most other packaged goods, pharmaceuticals need reliable and speedy packaging solutions that deliver a combination of product protection, quality, tamper evidence, patient comfort and security needs. Constant innovations in the pharmaceuticals Packaging.

KEY WORDS: COVID-19, Pharmaceutical packaging, packaging materials, recent trends,

INTRODUCTION

As the lockdowns are being observed all over the globe and the national level pharmacy professionals are performing frontline roles, this editorial highlight the role of pharmacists in the COVID − 19 pandemic. Pharmacists globally are providing services amidst pandemic, including TRIAGE services, seeing patients and reducing the patients’ burden on health care facilities such as hospitals and GP practices. Pharmacists are also working to providing home deliveries, as well as dealing with the increasing number of patients coming through to pharmacies with the other ailments. Pharmacy associations have issued their guidelines and in this editorial, several global examples of pharmacists’ role in the COVID 19 are being discussed.

Constant innovations in the pharmaceuticals Packaging.themselves such as, blow fill seal (BFS) vials, anti-counterfeit measures, plasma impulse chemical vapor deposition (PICVD) coating technology, snap off ampoules, unit dose vials, two-in-one prefilled vial design, prefilled syringes and child-resistant packs have a direct impact on the packaging. The review details several of the recent pharmaceutical packaging trends that are impacting packaging industry and offers some predictions for the future.

Packaging is defined as a technique which allows containment of pharmaceutical product from the time of production in a unit till its use. Role of pharmaceutical packaging is to provide life saving drugs, surgical devices, blood and blood products, nutraceuticals, powders, poultices, liquid and dosage forms, solid and semisolid dosage forms. Packaging of pharmaceuticals essentially provides containment, drug safety, identity, convenience of handling and delivery. Pharmaceutical packaging must balance lots of complex considerations. Leaving behind relatively simple issues such as developing good designs and communicating with customers, pharmaceutical packagers are concerned to more pressing concerns which include fighting with counterfeiting, encouraging patient compliance, ensuring drug integrity and balancing child-resistance and accessibility for the elderly. Issue of environment safety is also key concern for both developed and developing countries packaging industry.

Pharmaceutical packaging firms are some of the

Categorically differentiating pharmaceutical packaging:

1. Primary Packaging: This is the first packaging envelope which is in touch with the dosage form or equipment. The packaging needs to be such that there is no interaction with the drug and will provide proper containment of pharmaceuticals. E.g. Blister packages, Strip packages, etc.

2. Secondary Packaging: This is consecutive covering or package which stores pharmaceuticals packages in it for their grouping. E.g. Cartons, boxes, etc.

3. Tertiary packaging: This is to provide bulk handling and shipping of pharmaceuticals from one place to another. E.g. Containers, barrels, etc. [2]

Current trends in pharmaceutical packaging

“Need is mother of all Inventions”, phrase is best describing the emerging technologies towards pharmaceutical packaging.

·         Fast and Furious: Pharmaceutical Company Makes and Packs Hand Sanitizer in Record Time

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Versus larger bottles, unit doses of sanitizer packets were chosen to increase the number of users and safety. HR Pharmaceuticals plans to make four to six million packets weekly.

First-time sanitizer maker HR Pharmaceuticals gets a major assist from C-P Flexible Packaging in 10-day start-to-finish project in the fight against COVID-19.

When a coronavirus pandemic is underway globally and there’s a widespread and shortage of life-saving hand sanitizer, companies of all types and in all sectors have jumped swiftly into action to do what they can to provide help at a critical time.

However, the from-scratch fast and furious effort achieved by HR Pharmaceuticals, York, PA, may be one for the record books. With the invaluable help of C-P Flexible Packaging (CPF), the pharma company accelerated from a standing start in late March to filling unit-dose packets of self-made hand sanitizer 10 days later.

That record-busting turnaround is made even more amazing when you consider that the pharmaceuticals company had not made sanitizer before.

Setting the humanitarian effort in motion was Colby Wiesman, president of HR Pharmaceuticals, who responded to the nationwide shortage of hand sanitizer. Although the company had not had any experience making or packaging hand sanitizer, Wiesman knew that its ultrasound gels have a consistency similar to hand sanitizer gels. He had a simple, but strong motivation: Wanting to help.

Wiesman quickly set out to mass produce hand sanitizer gel and provide it to various groups within the local community that were in desperate need of the product.

A few things had to happen quickly, and they did. First, HR Pharmaceuticals’ product development and sourcing teams swiftly came together to bring the idea to fruition.

Although the alcohol needed to produce hand sanitizer was in short supply, the company managed to overcome this obstacle and rapidly pull together all of the raw materials needed to mass produce hand sanitizer gel thanks to Suite-K based in New York City.

Notably, while HR Pharma had experience with flexibles before, it had not worked with C-P Flexible Packaging, the converter’s Director of Marketing Amanda Dahlby tells Packaging Digest. That was surprising because both companies have operations in York, PA, which is a highly fortuitous and perhaps necessary proximity given the timeframe.

A flexible solution is logical.

HR Pharmaceuticals needed a format they could package safely and get the hand sanitizer literally into as many hands as possible and in expedited fashion. Knowing that hand sanitizer is generally produced in large bottles or packages, Wiesman figured the sanitizer would be widely distributed to more people if packaged in single-use flexible packets rather than multi-use bottles.

“As you may know, there is a big shortage of alcohol, so if we're filling into a 32-ounce bottle, it gets into your house, but it doesn't get into everybody else's," he says. "This is a great opportunity of producing single-use packets where they can be widely distributed."

He also felt that single-use packets would also eliminate any potential for cross-contamination. It’s a format that hits the sweet spot for the company, which packages lubricants in tubes and packets for personal and medical/surgical use.

That’s when HR Pharma reached out to C-P Flexible Packaging’s Clark, VP of sales. Clark immediately gained the full support of the converter.

The customer created and delivered graphics for the new hand sanitizer packets in one day, and C-P Flexible Packaging expediently delivered first order of printed rollstock. Packaging Digest is told that the supplier had the raw materials on-hand, a 2.25-mil lamination with moisture and oxygen barrier properties that is also designed to seal through contamination.

It was 10 days from Wiesman’s first contact with C-P Flexible Packaging that his company started packaging the gel.

Each packet holds 3 grams of hand sanitizer, and HR Pharmaceuticals is filling from 4 to 6 million packets weekly for six weeks on vertical form-fill-seal machinery at the York facility.

In addition to making this product available for sale through the national medical distribution network, the product is being donated to local front-line workers like police departments, fire stations, EMTs, prisons, courthouses, and mor    V-Shapes

Regardless of the types of medicines to be packaged, whether in liquid or powdered form, with the single-portion V-Shapes packets, thanks to their reduced volume and the absence of air in the packet, you will be able to optimize storage space while ensuring a longer shelf-life of the products contained. Thanks to the special “dropper” opening, it will be possible to ensure better control of the dosage and distribution of your pharmaceutical products.
The V-Shapes packets are fully customizable so as to attract new customers, increase brand loyalty and improve the users’ perception.

Says Wiesman, “We are constantly pursuing opportunities that do good for the community, doctors and patients we serve while doing good for our business and associates. We were thankful that C-P Flexible Packaging bent over backwards to help us get the product into the literal hands of those who need it, with lead times that are unheard of in this industry. Seeing our internal associates and external partners come together for this noble project has been one of the greatest joys of my professional career.”

This story may not end. Even as the planned six-week production run winds down, HR Pharmaceuticals is considering adding hand sanitizer to its standard portfolio, according to C-P Flexible Packaging’s Dahlby.

Cardboard Bed-

To deal with the hospital bed shortage Jayna has developed an Eco-friendly, Recyclable, light weight, cost effective BED from Heavy duty Corrugated Fiber Board is light but can withstand 300kg weight can be sanitized .

                                    

                            

PPE KIT-

Infection prevention and control measures include, among other measures: hand hygiene, personal protective equipment and waste management materials.
The Protective equipment consists of garments placed to protect the health care workers or any other persons to get infected.
These usually consist of standard precautions: gloves, mask, gown. If it is blood or airborne high infections, will include: Face protection, goggles and mask or face shield, gloves, gown or coverall, head cover, rubber boots. The characteristics of these products will be described in the sections below.

Sanitizer with Packaging  During COVID-19

                                         

Meeting survival kit is a must-have for any event. Set features a 1.5 oz container of hand sanitizer and a 0.15 oz lip balm. Carabiner makes for an easy to-carry-pair. When soap and water aren’t readily available, hand sanitizer helps fight against germs. Gel sanitizer is 60% ethanol and made with aloe to ensure optimal effectiveness in preventing bacterial development. The SPF broad spectrum 15 lip balm provides protection against the effects of UVA and UVB rays. It's made with beeswax, vitamin E, and aloe vera to create a premium blend of the highest retail quality. Labeling maintains compliance with FDA standards for sunscreen products. Lip balm containers are recyclable and made with 25-30% post industrial plastic. The lip balm production process has no waste and all strings/waste is reground into final product. Choose from tons of flavors. Perfect for outdoor events as well as tradeshows and meetings in sunny climates.

COVID-19 Testing KIT

This test can be performed at home by the client. It tests for the presence of the virus, by a PCR assay which is a laboratory-based process that takes 48 hrs to return the result once the laboratory receives the sample back. This will confirm the presence or absence of the Covid-19 virus in those individuals. This will inform both the individual and the community whether that person is potentially infective or not.

          

Bione Introduces At-home Testing kits for Covid-19

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to raise fear, considering the number of confirmed cases and deaths, the medical fraternity is doing everything within their limits to fight it. Apart from quarantine and self-isolation, testing is one essential step that can help identify those infected and further stop the spread. With test-kits still in short supply from other countries, Bangalore-based Bione has launched India’s first Rapid COVID-19 test kit. The best part – they can be used at home.

The only way to fight this pandemic is to control its spread, and testing helps the cause. This easy-to-use kit has been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) and is priced between 2000 – 3000 INR. To take the test, one has to clean their finger with an alcohol swab and use the lancet provided to finger-prick. The cartridge provided in the kits reads the results from the blood sample within 5-10 minutes.

 

Singapore-listed medtech company Biolidics recently launched its rapid test kit for COVID-19 and has entered into a manufacturer agreement with a diagnostic kit manufacturer to customize and manufacture the rapid test kits. The first batch of Biolidics’ rapid test kits is expected to be available in April 2020.

Biolidics has obtained provisional authorization from Singapore’s Health Science Authority (HSA) for its rapid test kit to be used in Singapore.

The medtech company, which focuses on diagnostic cancer solutions, is working closely with Clearbridge Health to obtain the relevant approval and/or authorization from the various health authorities in the region for the use of the rapid test kit.