Packaging plays a crucial role in the success of pharma innovation – driving compliance, supply chain efficiency and even improved patient safety.

This important and booming industry is growing year-on-year and is expected to be worth almost $150bn worldwide by 2027.

One of the key drivers of this growth is the ongoing development of smart packaging. Groundbreaking pharma packaging technologies are transforming the industry, providing new functionalities and data-led products which aid speed, accuracy and visibility in manufacturing and distribution, as well as compliance and safety.

So, how are the latest developments in smart packaging facilitating these improvements across the board, for both big pharma and those on the front line in healthcare and their patients?

The growth of smart packaging has come amid a backdrop of emerging challenges to the pharmaceutical industry, and its continued success and innovation is a testament to new products and technologies.

Globalisation has driven expansion into international markets, with a minefield of regional compliance restrictions to navigate. The growth of the personalised and biologic medicine markets have also caused new challenges for pharma packaging, which has had to adapt to the unique demands of an increasing scope of products and their specialist demands.

Plus, counterfeit pharmaceutical products are believed to be the largest fraud market in the world, worth around $200bn a year. This is a growing issue the pharma industry as a collective, working with governments and law enforcement agencies, needs to continue to tackle.

Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has cause unprecedented disruption to the pharma packaging industry across the globe, with the accelerated arrival of new treatments and vaccines, and resulting supply chain and counterfeiting challenges.
However, despite a seemingly endless list of challenges, smart packaging holds the key to addressing many, if not all, of these challenges.

Smart packaging provides end-to-end visibility of products from manufacturing, distribution and dispensing – not only enabling more efficient supply chains but also reducing the impact of counterfeit operations by tracking diverted deliveries. With the added introduction of tamper-proof technology, like smart blister packaging, the risk of interference or medication misuse is also significantly reduced.

The benefits aren’t limited to the manufacturing industry, however. These innovations also improve the patient experience. Not only does increased packaging security provide the peace of mind needed to encourage patient adherence but packaging breakthroughs have also improved safety and accuracy, with child-resistant and senior-friendly technology among those enabling more precise self-medicating in the home.

As big pharma rises to mounting industry challenges, the design and development of smart packaging has become an integral part of the safe and efficient delivery of medicines.

Smart packaging is typically split into two categories – ‘active’ and ‘intelligent’. Active packaging refers to products that improve the storage, application and delivery of medicines, while intelligent packaging is the name given to products able to gather data insights about the product and its journey from manufacture to the patient.

Active packaging has become a more established feature in the market and has even become an expectation of many products. For example, consumers now expect key medical packaging to meet child-resistant guidelines as standard. Similarly, developments like pre-filled syringes are becoming more common as the demand for personalised medicines continues.

However, intelligent packaging is treading new ground – facilitating communication in the delivery of medicines. The ability to gather and send data allows for secure two-way communication between patient and healthcare provider.

For example, wearable medical devices allow for key patient data to be tracked remotely without impacting on quality of life through regular hospital stays or medical visits. Instead, clinicians can remotely monitor health information like heart rate and pulse, temperature, blood oxygen levels, stress levels, breathing rates and brain activity in real time and accurately.

The simple, unobtrusive devices – often applied as bracelets – act as round-the-clock medical assistants, feeding key health data back to professionals and immediately flagging any abnormal numbers or fluctuations. The devices also support the patients, prompting them with medication reminders and tracking, to encourage adherence.

Existing medical products and devices are also being enhanced with the addition of intelligent technology. The use of wireless electronic chips allows health professionals to not only track basic information like geographical location but also monitor device usage.

For example, when tablets are ejected from blister packaging, an update is transmitted to the user’s wearable bracelet and instantly synced with the medical monitoring platform. The result is not only improved accuracy and adherence but also the ability to generate more granular data when it comes to monitoring medicine and health data.

The widespread roll out of QR-enabled packaging also plays a role in increasing patient literacy and compliance. QR codes and innovative near-field communication (NFC) technology are compatible with smart devices, allowing patients to scan products and access relevant content. This may include contact pages, information leaflets or even video content, guiding users through more complex instructions and allowing them to contact manufacturers or providers.

Revolutionising the design and development stage of large-scale pharmaceutical packaging represents a significant outlay, but the benefits outweigh the costs in the long term.

The introduction of smart packaging provides a 360-degree view of the pharma supply chain not previously possible. Physical products can be tracked across their entire life cycle, from production, throughout the warehouse and distribution process and finally to their arrival at the pharmacy and the patient.

This process not only allows pharmaceutical manufacturers to identify and address any bottlenecks in their supply chain – facilitating cost-savings and streamlined production and delivery processes – but it is also a weapon in the armoury against criminal networks.

Attempts to intercept supplies or divert deliveries are immediately flagged through the product’s serial number, so they can either be retrieved or noted as compromised to reduce the risk to patients and the value to criminals.

Plus, the combination of secure, real-time communication and interactive technology like QR and NFC platforms, is transforming patient compliance and adherence. Moves to make medical information accessible, digestible and interactive play a key role in boosting safe and accurate remote medicating.

Doctors can see what patients are doing and advise them on how to take their medicine correctly, reducing the risk of overdoses or improper use. For those who experience anxiety around medicines and accurate adherence, informational content is available at the touch of a button on smart devices, too.

The incorporation of technology into the patient compliance process also paves the way for big pharma to dramatically increase its green credentials – moving away from traditional medical leaflets. This represents an increasingly attractive prospect when it comes to brand reputation among today’s eco-conscious consumers.

The adoption of smart technology inevitably comes with risks around data compliance. Patient data is held and transferred online – in the cloud – leaving it open to malicious attempts by hackers.

For big pharma, this presents a more serious risk than other industries, given the sensitive nature of user data. It’s a lucrative market for criminals and makes the industry a prime target for cyberattacks.

This represents a barrier to mass adoption. However, for those keen to reap the benefits, the technology is in place to rise to this challenge. And it is consistently becoming more secure.

Perennial encryption technology can be deployed across the entire process of secure batch management, as well as the storage, transmission and retrieval of patient data. This protects confidential information by producing a one-time access token when products are scanned or a new entry is created. Any attempts to recreate this are then blocked and flagged as tamper evidence.

This also works to prevent the growth of the counterfeit and falsified medicines market, with each product interaction generating a single-use URL that renders any attempt to clone the product useless.

Rich Quelch is Global Head of Marketing at DiD