March 25, 2021
The development of innovative medical technologies and pharmaceutical products is accelerating. From diagnostics to biologics and medical devices, cutting edge products require increasingly complex packaging solutions. The healthcare packaging industry is responding with the development of new materials, delivery mechanisms and technology driven solutions. Through continued innovation in packaging, the medical technologies and pharmaceutical products that are revolutionizing care can be brought to market more swiftly. By staying at the forefront of packaging innovation, CEOs and investors can drive value-creation, expand portfolio offerings, and accelerate business growth.
Optimizing Track & Trace Technology
Securing end-to-end supply chain is imperative for CEOs across the healthcare industry. From vaccine distribution to prescription management, enhancing the security and ensuring the safety of products upon delivery is essential. Track and trace technology solutions, which can now be embedded into packaging design, have been rapidly gaining traction across the industry. This technology-driven solution is enabling CEOs to defend against a range of manufacturing and distribution risks including temperature change, mis deliveries and counterfeit products.
A growing number of CEOs are using track and trace technology solutions that focus specifically on enhancing verification across the chain of custody. By using technology solutions to mitigate counterfeit risk and monitor overall product supply, CEOs can secure their supply chain, increasing consumer confidence and securing their customer base. CEOs are also using smart-label technology which serves as a mechanism to monitor various product parameters including temperature and humidity. In scenarios, like vaccine distribution, where product effectivity relies on maintaining specific environmental parameters, smart-label solutions have been crucial in transporting medical products safely.
Going forward, CEOs ability to effectively deploy track and trace technologies will become increasingly imperative as ecommerce expands in response to consumer demand, and as supply chain complexity grows with new innovations. CEOs that prioritize investment in track and trace technology now will secure product supply chains, reassure customers, and drive revenue growth in the future.
Consumerism & Emerging Dosage Formats
Consumerism is driving change across the healthcare industry. Advancements such as patient portals, telemedicine and urgent care clinics can be attributed to new consumer demands on care delivery. Likewise, packaging solutions are adapting to meet modern consumer behavior. Dosage formats have expanded explosively in response to consumerism. Through the development of innovative packaging materials and advanced manufacturing techniques, dosage formats now range from transdermal patches to single-use swabs and advanced tablet design. These formats offer alternative solutions to traditional drug delivery that better fit the modern consumer.
By continuing to develop dosage formats that embrace a changing and consumer driven market and deploying direct-to-consumer marketing strategies, CEOs can drive consumer demand, build brand awareness, expand their product portfolio, and sustain organizational growth.
Capitalizing on the Agility of Plastics
The material properties and widespread compatibility of glass have driven it to become a long trusted and proven packaging material for pharmaceuticals, food, and beauty products. However, as recent technologies increase plastic compatibility and enable their widespread use, novel plastic solutions are capturing a growing market share. Plastics offer a range of advantages that enable companies to bring new products to market and drive aggressive growth. The flexibility of product design offered by plastics is making custom plastic packaging that is compatible with products increasingly accessible for new innovations, in turn enabling CEOs to accelerate time to market and diversify their company’s portfolio. The weight reduction in comparison to its glass counterpart has also proven advantageous in driving transportation and shipping costs down, increasing profitability. Finally, improved sterilization ability of novel plastics has ensured complex medical products meet all regulatory standards. By becoming increasingly reliant on plastic-based packaging, CEOs can ensure product-packaging compatibility, reduce packaging and transportation costs, and effectively bring new products to market.
As innovations continue to disrupt the healthcare industry, developing packaging solutions able to securely transport, maintain sterilization and provide customization will continue to drive products to market. Thorough evaluation of packaging efficacy throughout manufacturing, distribution and care delivery will enable organizational leadership to better assess supply chain needs and mitigate risks. By emphasizing development and innovation across the healthcare packaging industry, leaders can successfully secure growth and innovation moving forward.