Medical Device Link.

If you'd like to respond to one of our columns or to add yourself to our
e-list, please send your reply to epackagenewsletter@cancom.com.

We don't like to take sides in the bottles-versus-blisters debate. But I have strong preferences (both as an industry observer and as a consumer) for manufacturer packaging over pharmacy packaging.

I recently refilled a prescription for my father, who suffers terrible pain from progressive multiple sclerosis. The prescription usually comes in a 100-count bottle prepared as a unit-of-use package, possibly by the manufacturer or its contract packager, but certainly not by the pharmacy.

Because his doctor just stepped up his doses, he now takes more than 100 tablets of this drug per month, so I expected to get two bottles. Instead, I picked up a 150-count pharmacy vial measuring more than 6 inches tall!

I know that the pharmacy probably couldn't match the exact amount prescribed (150 tablets) with one manufacturer-generated unit-of-use package. How can drug manufacturers anticipate every possible regimen and package accordingly? They can’t, I realize.

But something about that giant amber-colored pharmacy vial just doesn't sit right with me. As a caregiver and a parent, I have several concerns:

• If I were to drop that vial or just knock it over, which isn't unusual, imagine the result. One-hundred-plus tablets would scatter everywhere, perhaps to places only my one-year-old daughter could root out. And if those tablets were to become contaminated or wet, how could I easily convince the pharmacy, doctor, and insurance company that I need another hundred tablets of a controlled substance?
  
• I have tightened the closures on these vials, only to find out later that the child-resistant mechanism wasn't activated. While I keep these vials out of my children's reach, others may not, trusting the push-and-turn caps. While I don't know this drug's toxicity, I would guess that 100 or so tablets could pose a real health hazard to nosy children.
  
• I administer my father's daily doses to help him comply with his regimens. But if he were on his own and were to lose track of his doses (as thousands of patients do), wouldn't it be burdensome for him to count out dozens of remaining doses to verify his compliance?
  
• Finally, the bottle is isn't portable. How am I going to pack it in his travel bag for our holiday trip? Do I need one of those low-barrier, non-child-resistant medicine organizers?

I realize that when it comes to prescriptions supplied for varying regimens, especially for those in supplied in large quantities, supplying unit-of-use packaging can be a challenge for manufacturers. This challenge will be even more evident when retail pharmacies begin offering 90-day supplies under the Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage plan to plan participants.

But there have to be alternatives to that 6-in. vial. There are too many challenges to using it.

I welcome your feedback—even if it is just to give me a dose of your reality as a drug packager!

This message is being sent to you because you currently subscribe to Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News magazine or because you have shown interest in the ePackage Newsletter. The editors want to share the ePackage Newsletter with you, planned for twice-monthly distribution. To be excluded from future mailings, please click here.

For information on subscribing to Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News, please click here.
For information on sponsoring upcoming newsletters, please e-mail Patricia Spinner, Group Publisher.

Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News
Canon Communications LLC
11444 W. Olympic Blvd., Ste. 700
Los Angeles, CA 90064