Originally Published PMPN January 2005
Labeling
Labeling: Getting More Out of Materials
Suppliers are designing labels of the future to help companies promote their brands, secure their products, and heed environmental concerns.
Christina Elston
Contributing Editor
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Branding
Over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceuticals live and die by brand recognition. But the prescription drug market has also been heavily promoting its products by name in recent years.
“The question companies are asking is: ‘How do we brand a product that goes to the pharmacist?’, ” says Paulette Carnes, president of Ampersand Label (Garden Grove, CA). “Pharmaceutical companies are looking at branding and couponing more than ever.”
Ampersand’s EasyTab and MultiFold extended-text labels offer one branding option. Both products have coupon perforations available, allowing companies to attach a coupon to a prescription bottle or sample.
Another recent trend has been for some pharmaceutical customers to use pressure-sensitive labels on blister cards or folding cartons for ethical drugs, according to Glenn Grosskopf, vice president of research and development at Colbert Packaging (Lake Forest, IL). This application is often used in samples handed out by physicians, who can then peel off the label, place it on a physician’s pad, and ask the pharmacist to order the product. “Companies are asking more of their pressure-sensitive labels,” says Grosskopf, adding that requests for this option have started to increase during the past year or so. “I think that comes from more and more consumers going in and requesting name brands,” he says.
The Environmental
Factor
As couponing and other branding issues migrate into prescription pharmaceuticals from the OTC market, the personal-care segment is beginning to bring environmental awareness into the picture.
Ampersand first began using recycled materials in its products at the request of cosmetics and personal-care client Aveda. Ampersand created a three-layer label and used raw paper containing 30% postconsumer waste for the top layers. They then decided to use this composition throughout the EasyTab label line. “We just took it all the way across,” says Carnes.
Another environmental option is to eliminate paper completely by using synthetic alternatives. “It is very clean to manufacture—cleaner than paper mills—and tree-free,” says Paul Mitcham, national marketing manager of Yupo (Chesapeake, VA). Because the product is especially durable, Yupo enters the waste stream at a slower rate than conventional papers. And as a category 5 polypropylene plastic film, it is fully recyclable and will remain inert in any approved landfill. It can also be safely incinerated, yielding only water, carbon dioxide, and ash.
Printability
But can you print on it? Yes. Though synthetic papers do not absorb ink in the same way traditional papers do, the scope of inks designed for synthetic-paper applications is growing. “We’ve worked with all the ink companies to make sure they have formulas of ink that will work well with synthetic paper,” says Mitcham. In addition, presses with UV drying capabilities have become more popular in recent years.
Some manufacturers of synthetic papers also use a clay coating to enhance printability. However, this means the ink is more likely to scratch off. Yupo uses proprietary surface treatments to enhance printability, making it scratch resistant and offering “excellent graphics and reproduction,” says Mitcham.
When working with films, many printers offer both UV coating for scratch and chemical resistance and UV flexographic to help cure the ink. “With technology today, printing on film is just as easy as printing on paper,” says Grosskopf. Colbert offers both UV coating and UV flexographic for its pressure-sensitive labels.
Using film for clear syringe labeling offers an additional challenge, according to Larry Butts, director of quality assurance at Creative Press Inc. (Evansville, IN). In working with Biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) for this application, “we’ve had to address the issue of keeping the ink on the substrate,” Butts says. UV varnish is part of the solution, but in wraparound labels the adhesive will not adhere to the varnished area. “We’ve had to mix the ink so that it will adhere to the BOPP material,” Butts says.
Information Delivery
Pharmaceutical label suppliers are also working to make the chain of information from drug manufacturer to patient more direct. “Every prescription written should come with a manufacturer’s instruction,” says Rich Murach, product manager of pharmaceutical papers at Fraser Papers (Stamford, CT). “And the best method of secure, direct delivery to the consumer is through unit-of-use packaging with a manufacturer’s insert.”
Because most prescription drugs are often sold in larger bottles that are then divided up by the pharmacist, manufacturers have found it difficult to make sure package inserts are available for each patient. However, Murach says that ultrathin papers now allow for inserts small enough for five to 10 to be glued to each master bottle, then separated and handed out with each prescription. “The solutions are there at minimal increase in cost,” Murach says.
Fraser has also started manufacturing papers lightweight enough to accommodate the 30-50% sheet-size boost needed if font-size requirements for patient information are increased. Opacity is built into these papers so that both sides can be printed without interference with bar code reading.
Drugs packaged in single-prescription containers can use extended-text labels to accommodate patient information without inserts or outserts. “It allows the pharmaceutical company to put patient information directly on the bottle,” says Ampersand’s Carnes.
During the past four to five years, extended-text labels have become more widely accepted in pharmaceuticals. “The shift has everything to do with keeping costs down, looking for more-attractive packaging, and the introduction of new technology,” says Carnes. “They’ve gotten much better.” Ampersand offers a single-sheet extended-text label that can be pre-curved for better closure on tight-diameter surfaces, and can be opened and resealed repeatedly over a two-year shelf life.
Security
One of the biggest concerns in the pharmaceutical industry at present is counterfeiting and authenticity, and labeling suppliers, printers, and converters have jumped in to help. “Companies are trying to find more and more ways to show that a product is authentic,” says Erin Linville, market segment manager, Avery Dennison Fasson Roll (Painesville, OK).
Creative Press has been experimenting with tamper-resistant features involving inks, substrates, holograms, and coating. “I’m seeing a lot of security issues come up,” says Butts, adding that the company will likely bring some of these features to market during the first quarter of 2005. “We’re trying to be proactive in all areas.”
Avery Dennison offers covert and overt features to help protect product authenticity, including photoluminescent adhesives that shine brightly if a label is cut, torn, or replaced. The company has also launched a new product, 60# UV SCR. This paper stock features UV fibers that show up under black light, and is solvent chemical reactive. This means that a simple black light or bleach pen small enough to fit on a keychain can be used to determine the authenticity of the label on the spot, according to Linville.
Converters are taking these products and adding security features of their own, such as covert codes within the printing, to provide layers of protection. “FDA has come into the marketplace and said that you can’t look for one single item to protect your drug,” says Linville.
Giving the paper a specific imprint can help pharmaceutical companies ensure that the label was printed for their product, says Murach. Fraser Papers is also working with pharmaceutical companies to provide paper with security features that are hidden from the printer, allowing pharmaceutical customers to ensure that their printers use paper from an approved source.
Labeling suppliers, printers, and converters will clearly continue to push the envelope wherever they can. The result is likely to be better materials available at much lower costs, more information in the hands of patients, superior graphics, and tightened security. And as crossover with other markets continues, perhaps future prescriptions will all be filled with the addition of a coupon to promote the brand name—and even a little environmental conscience.
Copyright ©2005 Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News
