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These days, it's rare that an FDA-approved drug gets a package redesign while still in the marketing stage. But that didn't stop the makers of Astelin (azelastine hydrochloride) Ready-Spray from bucking the trend. Last April, MedPointe Pharmaceuticals (Somerset, NJ) debuted a more protective and user-friendly package for the nasal antihistamine. That decision has clearly paid off, with the newly-designed package recently being awarded a 2004 Ameristar award from the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) for excellent consumer product package design. MedPointe received the award in November at a ceremony at the Pack Expo International Show in Chicago.

The drug, used to treat the symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis in patients five and older and nonallergic vasomotor rhinitis in patients 12 and older, was originally designed in a package containing two 17 ml bottles and a single spray pump. When the first bottle was finished, the user had to detach the spray pump and install it on the second bottle. According to company representatives, this was not only inconvenient for the user, but also put the product at more of a risk for contamination. The contamination risk in particular is obviously not an issue to take lightly in this era of highly-publicized incidents like the recent Chiron flu vaccine nightmare.

The reason for the original Astelin design, explains John Hawkins, MedPointe's executive vice president, was that MedPointe's original FDA application called for a single 17 ml bottle containing 100 sprays, to be used once a day. The agency, however, then decided that Astelin should be a twice-a-day therapy. Therefore, MedPointe was forced to double the amount of drug available. The only way to do that without changing the primary package design (and thus delaying FDA approval) was to add a second bottle of the same size.

"Following the launch of Astelin, we made a decision to target certain areas of the package for improvement," relates Hawkins. "One was to select a bottle that was capable of 200 sprays. Another was to reduce overfill, which resulted from the bottles having flat bottoms. There was some wastage involved with the two 17 ml bottles. We also wanted to eliminate the half-sprays that could occur when the bottle was almost empty."

The new award-winning design has accomplished all of those things. Specifically, the redesigned package now consists of a single 30 ml bottle with a preassembled spray pump that the user no longer has to install, increasing ease of use and reducing potential for contamination. It also has a V-shaped bottom that reduces wastage and eliminates half-sprays. (MedPointe received a patent for that design.) It reduces the overall packaging material used. And finally, it allows the labeling to be displayed more prominently. There's also an additional bonus, according to Hawkins. "This is a more efficient package and pump assembly, with reduced cost," he says.

MedPointe's Ameristar award is clearly well-deserved. It's also an excellent example of what can happen when a company chooses to think outside the box and come up with a solution to some of today's package design challenges.