PHARMA-WORLD: Water Activated Tape & Control Systems for the challenge of shipping pharmaceutical products

When a “generic” shipment is damaged, a customer may be disappointed, but when it‘s a pharmaceutical shipment, the damage can have repercussions on a patient’s health.

With this in mind, it‘s clear that pharmaceutical shipments come with a unique set of risks. In fact, shipments must arrive on time, intact and in many cases with controlled temperature.

Despite all the advances in the pharmaceutical industry, the way products are transported has not changed in recent years; given the capillarity of the demand, many packages are still transferred from the warehouse to pharmacies/customers with procedures that do not exactly comply with the needs of the product.

A patient’s health can depend on packaging that protects the integrity of drugs, from the manufacturer to the final destination.

The security of the packaging and its precious contents is one of the most important keys to carrying out all transfers with an extreme guarantee of final success.

Sealing the packaging with WAT (water-activated tape) is a safe solution. WAT gives shippers peace of mind that by safeguarding and insulating the contents in the best possible way, their products will arrive at their destination intact and safely.

We can undoubtedly say that WAT helps solve two critical problems: safeguarding the safety of external packaging and maintaining the integrity of the product contained within.

Packaging safety

The safety of medicines during shipping is becoming an increasingly complex issue.

The sector is generally composed of high-consumption “generic” products with low value and high demand and “personalized” products related to rare diseases that are very expensive and have a low production number.

Considering that these products are very attractive to those who want to commit theft (even partial theft) it‘s mandatory that, regardless of market demand, shipments must be safe throughout the transport chain.

Given the importance of the contents, pharmaceutical shipments require secure tertiary packaging to ensure that the product arrives intact at its destination.

The use of WAT provides the packaging with closure security and informs the recipient of possible tampering during transport.

Once applied, the WAT tape “melts” with the packaging creating a tamper-proof seal. A carton sealed with WAT cannot be opened without leaving a broken seal.

Seal Maintenance

Shipping pharmaceuticals can face long and complex journeys.

Protection from packaging breakage along the entire route is critical, especially since many of these high-value drugs are then conveyed through local couriers that handle a variety of small packages.

An inadequate packaging seal is one of the most common causes of damaged shipments. Weight, handling, and temperature conditions can cause ordinary plastic tape to separate from the carton and threaten the integrity of the packaging and its contents during transport.

WAT offers pharmaceutical shippers the advantage of durable and securely sealed packaging regardless of temperature conditions.

Selection

WAT offers the possibility to choose the best type of tape to best meet the safety guarantee required by the manufacturer.

From the normal belt with guaranteed closure, we move on to the reinforced version with rhomboidal weft to end with the Red Alert version which adds a double security to the closure of the packaging (reinforced belt with the addition of an additional detector for the attempt to open the packaging).

It should not be forgotten that the use of WAT helps the environment and safeguards company costs, offering the customer 100% eco-sustainable packaging with the possibility of disposal in a single solution.

Temperature and shock control

In the specific field, medicinal/pharmaceutical products are sensitive to various factors during transport and without proper management of heat, cold, shock or vibration control throughout the pharmaceutical chain of healthcare logistics, products can be destroyed in a few moments, thus transforming drugs into ineffective or even dangerous substances.

To solve the need for control in the pharmaceutical supply chain, EVi® proposes the use of simple solutions that can indicate, record and/or monitor temperature.

By using simple single-use temperature gauges, you can instantly know when the temperature of a shipment has exceeded an unacceptable level and for how long. This solution also provides the ability to verify more details by providing a complete record of temperature data during shipping.

By raising the level of temperature control, with a solution that provides a real-time alarm, it is possible to know “just in time” when the temperature of a shipment is unacceptable and could cause product deterioration. The trip history along with the location of the alarm are displayed on Cloud.

For the control of possible impacts, indicators with highly visible devices are provided that are activated when an impact of the packaging exceeds a predetermined level. Individually applied to a shipping box/container, the device visually alerts everyone involved in the packaging handling process that additional attention is required.

Learn more and try WAT and control solutions

Wondering if WAT tape and control solutions can help your organization make your product shipments safer? Contact us and it will be a pleasure to share our experiences in the field and which solutions can customize your requests!!

info@evi-italia.com