Design Cognition are pleased to announce the launch of two new websites that will better meet the evolving needs of our pharmaceutical clients and the wider community in the areas of healthcare packaging design, news & compliance.

FIRSTLY, if you are involved in any way with pharmaceutical packaging design, development or managing pack change, our new healthcare-related blog site www.healthcarepackaging-pulse.com will provide you with a daily snapshot of current news & views from the world of pharmaceutical packaging & affiliated areas – from Rx through OTC, Medical Devices and GSL. Learn from the industry ‘best-in class’.

It will cover creative topics such as design, innovation, and technology,through commercial issues such as cost-optimisation and supply chain performance to regulatory and legislative change affecting the industry.

You can follow these healthcare blogs on Twitter at http://twitter.com/healthcare_pack

We hope that you enjoy them and if you are going to AAPS in Los Angeles, November 9th-12th, why not come & visit us at ‘Booth 1962′ to discuss these in more detail? See you there!

Chris Penfold

It has been mandatory to include Braille on all new EU Marketing Authorisations since 30th October 2005.

According to Article 56(a) of Council Directive 2001/83/EC it will be mandatory to include Braille on ALL EU pharmaceutical packaging by October 2010. This includes pharmaceutical products which were launched prior to October 2005.

Braille must show the name of the medicine and the appropriate strength, where more than one strength is available.

Braille alphabet

Support for Braille introduction
At Design Cognition we take the implementation of Braille very seriously. That is why our Chief Technical Officer Annie Dallison volunteered to be a member of The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) working group on Braille standards. Annie, as a leading industry expert, already had over 8 years of experience in the application of Braille on pharmaceutical packaging developing processes and establishing & setting standards for blue chip companies, making her an ideal member of the working group.

CEN working group
This CEN working group is made up of dedicated representatives from the packaging industry, trade associations, regulatory bodies and blind associations from across Europe.

This group has been working for over 3 years to determine and agree standards, including the Braille font style (Marburg medium) and measurement of Braille cell dot height that can be applied across the whole of the EU. One of the main issues for the team has been reaching agreement on the cell dot height that the blind associations feel will be sufficient to meet the needs of the blind users and also industry believe is commercially achievable. The final standard will hopefully be available before October 2010.

If you’d like find out more and how to avoid breaking the law, get your FREE ‘Introduction to Braille’ follow this link:

http://www.thepharmagateway.com/

If you are going to AAPS in Los Angeles, November 9th-12th, why not come & visit us at ‘Booth 1962′ to discuss this in more detail? See you there!

Chris Penfold

By Katie Bird , 28-Oct-2009, www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com

Proteins in milk that form part of the cow’s natural protection against milking related infections can be formulated into anti-microbial cosmetics and oral care products, according to manufacturer Quantec.

The New Zealand-based company has been working on the Immune Defence Proteins (IDP) for three years and is now ready to launch the ingredients onto the skin care and supplements market.

Rod Claycomb, managing director of the company, explained how the proteins form part of the cow’s own defence system.

“After milking, cows are quite prone to bacterial infection of the mammary gland called mastitis. This suite of proteins is nature’s own way of helping to protect the cow,” he said.

According to Claycomb, there are applications for the proteins in both human and animal health.

Having worked in both the animal health & human skincare sectors, this sounds to me like an interesting innovation & great breakthrough- with scientific and potentially commercial benefits. What do you think? Read the full article and let us know. Chris Penfold

Read the full article here: http://tinyurl.com/yz4937q

Really interesting article, nice to see that the UK have been named number 1 for something so positive. (Jane)

For decades European countries have been among the most innovative on the planet when it comes to drug development. Scientists at stellar academic centers like the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the Oxford/Cambridge university axis in the UK have produced some of the best thinking on new drugs the industry has seen. And clusters of developers in Switzerland, the UK and places like the Medicon Valley in northern Denmark and southern Sweden have spawned their share of start-ups. Germany has seen a whole generation of biotech companies launched with public assistance from the BioRegions it began to establish more than a decade ago.

via European Biotechnology, European Biotech – FierceBiotech.

This is a really interesting article about the reuse of paper production waste – a new biotechnology method used to modify the chemical and structural properties of the cellulose materials that are left over – and has potential in all sorts of applications.

ScienceDaily (July 2, 2009)

Margarita Calafell, a researcher at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the UPC’s School of Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering of Terrassa (ETSEIAT), has developed the new method.

In many cases, the new material could replace plastic packaging and auxiliary building materials. The new patented material has unique properties. It is low density, mouldable, fire resistant, impermeable, porous and highly resistant, and it may replace less environmentally friendly materials in many industry and production sectors.

Read more here:  http://tinyurl.com/nloo99