Digitalization on the e-health market with the smart “Medical Prescription”

01 Aug 2018 --- August Faller has developed an intelligent and interactive pharmaceutical packaging prototype: a digitalized folding carton, coined “Medical Prescription,” which supports patient’s compliance with regard to medication intake. The packaging solution, which includes a small e-paper display and electronic controls (buttons), counts down the tablets, reminds the patient of the correct time to take them and alerts the patient when it is time to order a new prescription. Doctors and pharmacists can transfer, via Bluetooth, individual dosage instructions onto the folding carton.

The doctor or pharmacist transfers the personalized dosage instructions including what time the medication should be taken, the number of tablets to be taken and the duration of the medication in days to the digitalized folding carton by pressing a button via his/her smartphone, laptop or PC.

Upon opening the packaging for the first time, the display with show a greeting and offer the possibility of counting the tablets and indicate the correct dosage instructions. Patients can navigate through the menu using the operating buttons. An integrated clock, an LED and a tone signal remind patients to take their medication promptly.

If the number of tablets drops below a certain level, the display also shows a warning and recommends the patient to order a new prescription. If the packaging was not correctly closed, patients are also informed.

The intelligent folding carton is created by a particularly flat electronics system with e-paper display, microcontroller, battery and Bluetooth/wireless interface.

E-health market
The smart folding “Medical Prescription” is one of the three digitalized packaging prototypes that Faller has developed with MSC Technologies from Freiburg, Germany and Pforzheim College.

The company – who manufacture secondary pharmaceutical packaging such as folding cartons, leaflets, labels and combination products – describes the three digitalized packaging prototypes as giving impressions of “what’s possible.” The second prototype, “Counting Device,” is able to count the number of tablets and the folding carton solution while the third, “Level Indicator,” calculates the liquid level in a bottle with liquid medication. Both solutions have an epaper display as well as operating buttons and remind the patient to apply for a new prescription.

With the development of the prototypes for digitalized folding cartons, Faller is reacting to the growing interest in interactive packaging solutions and the increased digitalization on the e-health market.

Further pharmaceutical packaging
Digitalization is taking the packaging world by storm, but the three prototypes from August and Fuller represent how it can be used to enhance the functionality of medical products and enhance doctor and patient communication.

PackaginginInsights has recently reported on strides made in the pharmaceutical packaging space, with Aptar Pharma announcing the certification of its Ophthalmic Squeeze Dispenser by the French National Agency of Medicines and Health Products Safety (ANSM), which they tout as having microbiological safety, controlled and reproducible drop ejection and now, the possibility for pharmaceutical customers worldwide to enter into discussions with regulatory agencies, such as the French ANSM. The advance is significant due to the extremely tight regulatory environment surrounding packaging for pharmaceuticals.

By Laxmi Haigh

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