In the packaging industry, it is increasingly necessary to propose innovative solutions that match consumer needs. The intelligent approach can revolutionize and add value to pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. Intelligent packaging enables consumers to learn more about a product and how to interact safely with it.
“In the pharma industry, smart packaging can provide important information, and monitor the conditions a product has been exposed to during its journey through the supply chain. At present, once a consignment leaves the factory, with the exception of location tracking, there is no real visibility as to what happens to it in the time leading up to its arrival at the point of delivery.
The incorporation of printed sensors and NFC antennas within packaging facilitates the monitoring of environmental conditions such as temperature, shock, and humidity in real time, to provide unequivocal evidence of quality. This will be of great benefit to an industry where consumers and brands face the risk of genuine harm from improperly packaged goods, expired products, and improper use.
This data could be shared with the patient's doctor, allowing them to monitor treatment plans and print repeat prescriptions without the patient having to formally request them. This will be particularly important in facilitating the shift to the increasing use of personalized and stratified medicines, the use of which involves breaking down complex conditions into smaller subtypes based specifically on their underlying causes, and then targeting those causes at the molecular level with biopharmaceuticals.
Unlike the "one-size-fits-all" drugs that are currently used, the dosage and type or combination of precision drugs needed will be specific to individual patients or subtypes, so smart packaging with the ability to provide patients with all the information they need could reduce unnecessary face-to-face consultations, providing some breathing room for already overburdened healthcare professionals, and reduce the dangers involved with misuse.
Mass market adoption of the technology will only occur when a cost effective production supply chain exists that allows the incorporation of printable electronics for roughly the same production costs. Cost is a particularly prohibitive issue within the commercial drug market, where profit margins are often low. In the past, manufacturers have focused on creating the cheapest and easiest packaging solutions so that they can inject as much capital as possible into product development. Smart packaging requires a different approach -developing the packaging as part of the overall product design and not merely as an afterthought, or as a result of convenience or necessity. “
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Font: CPI, Matthew Herbert