The Benefits Of Serialisation in Medical Packaging
Pharmaceutical packaging.. Photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash
Medical Packaging has come a long way over the past decade. Many businesses, including pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors for people, pets, livestock, and other animals, use serialisation. Additionally, several industries, including medical, have strict government regulations to follow that requires product traceability. Technical packaging in the medical and healthcare trades is growing as they see the advantages of these advanced tracking methods.
Unique barcodes
Special identifiers for technical packaging are an integral part of the shipping and distribution of medical and pharmaceutical products. Technology has surpassed standard barcodes. Typical packing for medications and dietary supplements includes security substrates to prevent product tampering, such as shrink bands, overwrap, and lidding films to protect consumers.
If someone alters medicines and medical products with unique barcodes, manufacturers and all involved parties can trace every step—from the final processing and wrapping to warehousing to the pharmaceuticals and distribution to retailers and customers.
Who benefits from these packaging updates? Although the list is growing, businesses use serialisation in pharmaceutical packaging to handle several aspects of their manufacturing process. From meeting government regulatory requirements and tracking inventory to reducing fraud and accurately predicting future product needs, technical packaging can save companies millions of dollars.
Meet government regulations
The global pharmaceutical industry is enormous. By the close of 2020, the industry had a value of more than $1.27 trillion (USD.) Companies manufacture and distribute a wide range of substances, including dozens of controlled substances such as opioids. To monitor these sales, governments worldwide have strict regulations. A significant portion involves rigorous supervision over the movement of different products from the manufacturer to the retailer, which is where barcodes are helpful. As requirements grow globally, unique digital barcodes will be used more often by merchants for tracking purchases or inventories at warehouses.
Track controlled substances
However, tracking opioids and similar prescriptions goes much further. With serialisation, companies can track each batch of medicine to a specific pharmacy. Businesses and government agencies can follow the medicine from the manufacturer to the distributor, pharmacy, and the individual with the prescription. This service is vital to reduce the world's opioid crisis. Rigid rules are necessary to protect patients, manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies, and physicians.
With the right technical packaging and software, accounting records will show the complete history of each batch of medication. Additionally, it can go even further with unique barcodes on each container.
Virtual time stamps
Some pharmaceutical packaging allows manufacturers to embed a digital timestamp to record the purchase. The virtual timestamp may also help track expiration dates and give patients a more detailed refill schedule for their prescriptions.
Prescription medications are not the only type of drugs that have expiration dates. Over-the-counter medicines expire, too. By recording detailed information about each batch and product, brands can prevent waste in an organization or institution.
Also, these benefits give patients a better idea of when to throw out their medicine cabinet items. Additionally, by speeding up this process with several steps, such as creating alerts for quick medication recalls after they happen, lives could be saved if they made any mistakes during drug production.
Clearer supply chain
Serialisation with pharmaceutical packaging provides companies with a clearer picture of their supply chain. While this might not be as important for small suppliers, large corporations with product shipping in multiple countries need to see the global view to understanding their supply chain better. This advantage can put them ahead of the competition in their sector of the pharmaceutical industry.
Whether you're a retailer or supplier, the more eyes on your supply chain, the better. The two ways to prevent pharmaceutical and healthcare product shortages are knowing inventory levels as well as accurately predicting future needs. But this benefit also creates an interesting domino effect that can work in both directions. This helps all involved suppliers know when to ramp up production or slow down in order to meet customer demands.
Better product authentication
Micro text, barcodes, and security ink offer better authentication for your products. Knockoff designer bags are embarrassing. However, fake medications are dangerous. Counterfeit drugs cost the EU pharmaceutical sector over 10 billion euros (USD 11.3b) every year.
The more you can do to protect your brand from fraud, the more successful you'll be. Fake products do more than hurt your company's reputation. They put licensing and insurance coverages in jeopardy.
Improve product tracking
Right now, product tracking without serialisation is mediocre. It's not uncommon for stock to move to different distribution channels without authorisation. These situations can lead to false shortages. With serialisation and unique barcodes, part of the clearer supply chain advantage allows companies to locate all stock.
Product diversion can harm customer satisfaction and reduce sales in any industry. However, it can lead to dangerous shortages in hospitals, doctor's offices, ambulances, and nursing facilities in the pharmaceutical trade. Additionally, it could harm individual patients that rely on prompt deliveries of their vital medications.
Streamline stock level monitoring
Along with improving product tracking and providing a clearer picture of the supply chain, technical packaging can help streamline stock level monitoring. During COVID-19 lockdowns, the world experienced extreme shortages of medical supplies. Lives were lost because of worldwide deficits in the supply chain.
The pharmaceutical industry needs to use all tools available to ensure these delays never happen again. By streamlining stock level monitoring with digital barcodes, micro text, and security ink, companies can safeguard their image and stop future shortages.
Accessing product performance
While monitoring stock levels and safety is vital to any company. Digital barcodes on pharmaceutical packaging can help your R&D department track how well the products are working. Additionally, they can pinpoint different areas of the world where their products are in use.
For example, tracking medicine in a single country and even neighborhood is possible with advanced serialisation technology. Data like this can be invaluable to researchers. In addition, it can benefit the medical industry and help patients improve their quality of life.
Digital re-engagement marketing
Serialisation is appealing to businesses outside of the medical industry. Companies are using technical packaging for digital re-engagement marketing. The barcodes allow brands to create customised customer loyalty programs to track when the products were purchased to the exact date and build a database with the information. Remarketing techniques include engaging with past customers and working to get them back to your brand.
Serialisation adds an essential layer to pharmaceutical manufacturers’ quality control processes by enabling them to track pharmaceutical items back through the supply chain. Colab Technical packaging provides expert print solutions for select industries, including pharmaceutical, technology, MedTech, animal healthcare, and retail. You need quality, precision, and consistency to meet strict safety standards and government regulations. We meet those needs and provide supply chain solutions for your business.