Since packaging is one of the cornerstones of the pharma marketing, it is essential to have durability and quality designs. India and China’s packaging industry is now on the radar of the global pharma majors as international companies are looking to source quality, cost competitive and reliable packaging materials from these two countries. Especially there is a huge demand for single-dose, easy-to-use, tamper proof and environment-friendly packaging solutions, according to pharma industry experts.
The China advantage
The availability of cheaper packaging and printing material are luring Indian packaging companies to China. According to Lily Qui, sales manager, Taixing Kang Cheng, a major source of aluminium and laminated foils, India is a key market for China’s packaging industry. It is a business strategy to access quality at a lower cost.
Companies in China are also working to ensure that the latest technology is adopted as this would have a tremendous impact in the tapping customers.
India being a major exporter to the regulated markets needs high quality packaging. This is where China’s leading companies in the space including Joyea Corporation, Packaging Stick Hochein, Imausion, Changzhao Granulating, Luoyang Yuluo Bottle Caps, Shang Dong Pharma Glass, Ningbo Dragon Packaging are looking at sales and sustainability in the competitive market, said an industry observer.
The Indian advantage
India is a reliable location for packaging material. The high quality Indian products have attracted global firms to import packaging material from here. Moreover, the packaging production houses are GMP and ISO 9001/2000 compliant and also adhere to ISO certification norms.
“India is a growing power and international companies are looking at sourcing from India. This can grow into very large business if serious attempts are made by the manufacturers to adhere to international quality standard. Currently, a lot of Indian manufacturers of packaging material are exporting and growing at the average rate of 15 per cent per annum. It is mainly a volume game,” said Global Printing & Packaging Co. Private Ltd. Bengaluru.
Rexam Pharma Packaging India, Bengaluru is a leading manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging, drug delivery systems and medical devices for pharmaceutical, medical and biotechnology companies. It specializes in eye, ear and oral dropper bottles, nasal spray sets as well as Child Resistant Closure (CRC) systems known as the Argus Loc cap. The company also has comprehensive resources which enable it to develop innovative packaging solutions for its clients. From conception to final product design, prototype development and industrialization, Rexam Pharma supplies solutions to answers patients’ needs.
The Hyderabad-based Goose Technologies which is a specialist in providing pharmaceutical business re-engineering solutions has a slew of solutions covering from the online & offline 2D bar-coding solution, Proofreader, a 21 CFR part 11 compliant solution and the ‘Artwork Manager’ with advanced proof reading capabilities.
Goose has an online & offline 2D bar-coding solution with advanced drug packaging authentication features referred to as ‘Tracker’. The cost -effective new generation 2D serialization barcode for the drug manufacturers is secure and protects both consumers and the pharmaceutical companies. Its multi-level authentication features allow tracking of product throughout the distribution channel including warehouse to customer retail chain.
Leading pharma companies like Strides Arcolab, Indoco Remedies and Macleods Pharmaceuticals, etc. have already implemented and adopted Goose Tracker for Track & Trace solution. The company expects a rise in demand and surge in ‘Goose Tracker’ customer portfolio as pharmaceutical companies are
set to implement secondary bar-coding from July 1, 2014. Its serialization algorithm generates billions of unique numbers.
Users can also validate the authenticity of the product by using short message service (SMS), interactive voice recorder (IVR) or website. “Tracker is a simple and easy to configure Track & Trace solution for achieving bar coding on drug packaging as per the recent Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) regulation,” said, Deb Pattnaik, founder & CEO, Goose.
“Our online & offline solution is highly scalable and handles the track and trace needs for all levels of packaging up to primary and e-pedigree easily. This solution can be configured to address product-specific integrity challenges and allows seamless scale as an organization adds new lines, manufacturing plants,” he added.
For several years, pharma companies have been manually proofreading the leaflets, artwork and other printed materials. Relying on manual proofreading always increases the chances of error. These errors could be minor but the losses incurred would result in millions of dollars followed by lawsuits. Every year, pharma companies face losses due to product recalls. The electronic proof-reading solution is economical in terms of reducing cost of printed materials and also streamlining the packaging process. It restructures the proof-reading process, improves efficiency and decreases approval timings which in turn reduces product recall and increases product profitability. Glenmark and Aurobindo have begun to use the Goose Proofreader to help reduce errors in the printed materials, mitigate the risk of product recalls and thereby potentially saves their investments.
Industry experts say that 35 to 40 per cent of pharma product recalls happen due to faulty packaging and mis-labelling. Therefore, it is critical for companies to provide accurate printed material. This would mean that the printing components of the packaging work-flow should work efficiently, said Pattnaik.
In addition Goose also has its Artwork Manager which provides dedicated support to the packaging department of the pharmaceutical industry to automate the labelling and packaging artwork process without a glitch thereby reducing product recall due to faulty print, product mislabelling and manpower costs. It also increases the turnaround time for effective and error-free artwork approvals.
It has been well-documented that the costs associated with pharmaceutical packaging can represent up to 70 per cent of the cost of the finished product. A further challenge is presented with rise in material costs for paper, film and ink, making it increasingly difficult to produce sustainable labels and packaging with good shelf appeal while keeping costs low due to faulty artwork management system. There are many benefits that efficient automated artwork process can bring to the pharmaceutical industry. For instance, legal requirements often force pharma manufacturers to make changes at short notice. Additionally, marketing departments require rapid changes to react to fluctuations in market conditions. Even a few weeks can be decisive in the field of generics, as lead time in the introduction of new products is of paramount importance and a pharma company do need to have their artwork completed as early as possible, said Pattnaik.
Combating counterfeits
From introduction of security holograms to radio frequency identification technology, the pharma industry is now gearing up to ensure that there is no tamperproof in their packs and prevention of identical versions coming out the in the market.
Today the most cost-effective method to combat counterfeiting and build consumer confidence is the incorporation of hologram image on the product or on the packaging, according to regulatory officials.
The Union commerce ministry has finally made it clear recently that it will go ahead with its plan to implement 2 bar coding compulsory for pharmaceutical exports after giving an extended deadline to July 1, 2014 from July 2013.This could further increase the need for more packaging solutions as the demand widens with more players coming in for bar coding solutions.
In 2001, the Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) a premier voluntary state level non-government Institution of small scale industrialists represented by units other than pharma had already ensured 2,000 units have helped to achieve 100 per cent bar coding implementation over the last four months. It has also approached Karnataka Drugs & Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association to help units under its umbrella to assist in the bar coding requirements.