MeadWestvaco and Bilcare jointly buy packaging firm
The deal should enhance the capabilities of Bilcare and MeadWestvaco, giving them an increased presence in the contract packaging market. Financial details of the 50-50 venture have not been disclosed.
MeadWestvaco believes that by combining the skills possessed by each company they can bypass several steps in the supply chain and make adherence packaging more widely available.
Mohan Bhandari, chairman and managing director of Bilcare, said: “our partnership with MeadWestvaco will allow us to combine our global experience, primary and secondary packaging expertise, and research and development capabilities to serve customers and consumers throughout the world.
“Bilcare is intently focused on developing technologies that improve patient health outcomes.”
International Labs has two good manufacturing practice (cGMP) compliant facilities in St Petersburg, Florida, covering 60,000 sq. ft. with the capacity to produce products across the pharmaceutical packaging spectrum.
The two acquirers will be looking to exploit International Labs’ manufacturing capacity and contracts as they seek to make best use of their respective capabilities.
MeadWestvaco has stated it believes it brings knowledge of healthcare packaging design and innovation to the venture. Within this the company singled out its expertise in compliance and injection molded packaging as being particularly useful to the alliance.
It also went on to cite Bilcare's knowledge of the materials, products, processes and services required to provide effective packaging to the pharmaceutical industry as important to the venture.
Bilcare offers pharmaceutical companies assistance in finding the appropriate packaging from design to manufacture.
Prior company ties
Links between the companies were already in place prior to the acquisition, with International Labs using MeadWestvaco’s Shellpak compliance packaging technology.
Shellpak is a pre-filled child resistant medication package that negates the need for pharmacists to count out pills.
This speeds up the dispensing process, negates the chance of mistakes in number or type of pills and reduces operational costs, according to MeadWestvaco.
In addition the blisters are imprinted with information regarding the dosing dates and times, which should improve patient compliance.
