One company which has been an early advocate of the technology is Alcoa Flexible Packaging, which has already developed a shrink sleeve label for Novartis' Starlix (nateglinide) drug for type 2 diabetes. This approach has improved the child-resistance of the pack, without sacrificing ease of opening by the elderly or people whose manual dexterity is impaired, and has also reduce the cost of the pack significantly.
The Novartis' design utilizes a 45cc Kerr bottle/closure system, covered by a reversible printed shrink sleeve designed by Alcoa that provides tamper-evidence and a vehicle for product identification and brand/product recognition.
The Starlix is gravure printed 3 line colours backed up with a specially designed system of white ink to provide opacity. This white ink covers a pressure sensitive label that is applied to the bottle before the shrink label, to ensure that the product can be identified even if the shrink label becomes detached.
"The fact that most of the label remains on the bottle allows physicians to better differentiate between Novartis' products and between various strengths within particular product lines, as these variations are colour-coded distinctly on the label," said Alcoa.
A spokesman for the company noted that this ease of recognition could help prevent misdosing of the medication.
Meanwhile, the per unit cost of the labels was decreased by a massive 85 per cent from the previous level of around $10 (€7.90). Material savings add up to be approximately $2.5 million, which allowed Novartis to justify upgrading its packaging system to cope with high-speed equipment.
Storage of the container is much more efficient, since there is no excess packaging, and it simplifies both the sales professionals and the doctor's time in sample storage, claims Alcoa.
The physicians' sample packaging system is to be recognised with an AmeriStar Package Award in the Drug/Pharmaceutical category on November 9 in Chicago during the PACK EXPO International exhibition.
The Starlix shrink sleeves are manufactured at Alcoa's Downingtown Printing Plant in Downingtown, Pennsylvania using 50 micron PVC film.