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PACKAGING RESOURCE CENTER: Show Coverage

This year’s must-see pharma show is an off-off-off-Broadway production called Interphex. Approximately 950 companies from the pharmaceutical and biotechnical industries will showcase their new products and technologies at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from March 21 to 23.

Any Broadway production would kill to have the kind of staying power that the Interphex event maintains. In its 27th year, Interphex 2006 focuses its conference program on end-user presentations from pharmaceutical companies. The conference program is designed to educate and inspire the next generation of pharmaceutical manufacturers. It will feature case study and tutorial presentations aimed at providing industry professionals with a 360° view of the biopharmaceutical landscape.

The conference has also added new focus areas to its program, including contamination control and RFID. Key pavilions at the event will feature packaging, automation, RFID, R&D, and contamination control.

The conference program is in tune with the focus areas of the event. The program will include a contamination control track and several PAT- and RFID-related presentations. Keynote speaker Greg Simon, president of FasterCures, will get the program started by discussing several initiatives that his organization is pursuing to develop life-saving medications. Robert Bazell, chief science and health correspondent for NBC Nightly News, will host the keynote panel discussion on the second day. The panel will feature president and CEO of GE Healthcare BioSciences, Peter Loescher, who will explore how manufacturers are meeting the speed, safety, and efficiency challenges of today and of the future. FDA initiatives aimed at improving drug development and promoting public health will be the subject matter of Scott Gottlieb’s keynote address on the third day of the event. Gottlieb is the deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs for FDA.

Challenges and opportunities in pharmaceutical packaging will be discussed in a seminar led by Nina Goodrich, director of innovation at Alcan Packaging. Goodrich will deal with issues ranging from the value of a package in establishing brand identity and product integrity to fighting the growing threat of counterfeiting with new technologies. One such anticounterfeiting technology is RFID. Mark Roberti, editor of RFID Journal, will share case studies of companies using RFID in the pharmaceutical industy and will explain where further development of this technology is needed in the industry during his seminar, “RFID and the Future of Pharmaceutical Supply Chains.”

And to recharge attendees’ batteries and get their juices flowing, Christopher Martin, engineering project coordinator for Ciba Vision Canada, and Bradford Roberts, power quality systems director for S&C Electric Company, will give their presentation, “Ensuring Power Quality Protection for Critical Packaging Processes.” This presentation will explain the impact and cost of power problems and how to resolve them to protect or retrofit a sterile process manufacturing or packaging line.

Interphex is presented by Reed Exhibitions. To learn more about the event, visit www.interphex.com.

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