Originally Published PMPN
May 2004
NEWS
Device Packager Receives Medical Design Excellence Award |
| The MDEA-winning packaging for Dermabond eased product use. |
A unique collaboration between a device manufacturer and a precision molder led to better packaging for a single-use delivery system. It also led to an unexpected bonus for both companies: a packaging design award.
Device manufacturer Closure Medical Corp. (Raleigh, NC) was one of 28 recipients of this year’s Medical Design Excellence Awards, presented by Canon Communications llc and sponsored by Avail, DuPont Medical Packaging, The MedTech Group Inc., NuSil, and Putnam Plastics Corp. Closure Medical worked with
GW Plastics Inc. (Bethel, VT) to create new packaging for the Dermabond ProPen XL applicator system.
The awards program, now in its seventh year, recognizes contributions and advances in medical product design. Closure Medical was chosen in the Finished Packaging category for its packaging of the ProPen. The ProPen is a disposable sterile-delivery system for the Dermabond topical skin adhesive. The product is designed for precise application of liquid adhesive technology to replace sutures and staples in surgical procedures.
“The Dermabond product has been in the marketplace since 1998, but we’ve been looking for ways to improve the packaging,” says Bill Cotter, vice president of operations for Closure Medical. “We also wanted to figure out how to make the product easier to use, and more intuitive.”
To achieve those goals, Cotter and his development team used input from clinicians and surgeon panels. Utilizing rapid prototyping, the team was able to quickly modify early package designs before evaluating them. “We basically took the package from concept to commercialization in 11 months,” says Cotter.
In addition to taking the development team into surgery to watch surgeons using the product, Cotter employed GW Plastics for supply and design assistance. “They came to us for help in selecting materials, assembly techniques, and design review,” says Tim Reis, GW’s vice president, healthcare market.
Reis agrees that the Dermabond product’s packaging needed help. “It wasn’t user-friendly,” he says. “The adhesive was in a glass vial within the outer package. That vial had to be manually broken to release the product to the application wick, so there was little control over the process.”
GW’s team of engineers designed the pen sides to support the vial, and allowed assembly with a precision interface fit. A rotation collar was then molded with an internal cam action that releases the adhesive and controls a precise flow to the tip. The eight-cavity molds were designed with replaceable inserts for product identification. Two versions of the product are being manufactured in the same tooling. “We helped Closure understand the function loads on the part, and some of the packaging requirements,” says Reis.
The new design was “packaged in a way that really improves ease of use,” according to one of the award program’s judges. The award entries were reviewed by a multidisciplinary panel of 11 judges with expertise in biomedical engineering, human factors, industrial design, medicine, diagnostics, and medical packaging.
Products were evaluated on design and engineering features that incorporate innovative use of materials, user-related features that improve healthcare delivery, features that provide enhanced benefits to the patient, and the ability of the product development team to overcome design and engineering challenges.
For more information on the Medical Design Excellence Awards program, visit www.mdeawards.com.
Copyright ©2004 Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News
