Packaging
Pharmapack & BIOMEDevice Europe 2010 acclaimed by pharmaceutical industry professionals
Wednesday 12. May 2010 - The ninth edition of the Pharmapack congress held on the 1st and 2nd February 2010 together, for the first time, with BIOMEDevice Europe, achieved record attendance.
Over 2600 visitors flocked to the Grande Halle de la Villette, that is an increase of 32 % compared with the 2009 edition.
Over this two-day period, the congress welcomed a total of over 3550 professionals involved in innovation in pharmaceutical packaging, drug delivery systems, medical devices and combination products.
Pharmapack confirms its position as the international trade show. Indeed, over 40% of the visitors came from 47 countries in the European Union, Asia and the United States, with growing attendance from North African countries.
The number of exhibitors also grew by 17 %, compared with 2009, to 223 international companies, the main suppliers of the pharmaceutical and medical industry.
General satisfaction
Participants were unanimous in expressing their positive views of the growth of this congress-exhibition, which has remained a platform focused on their expectations; while bigger, it still continues to provide a friendly atmosphere conducive to exchanges among peers, between clients and suppliers or future partners.
Exhibitors underscored the high caliber and international scope of attendees, comprising decision-makers and experts representing pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, medical industries, regulatory agencies and health authorities.
Judith Boch, technical and marketing engineer, Sabic :”We had a lot of visitors and good contacts with our clients in addition to our clients’ clients. This is very worthwhile for us. »
William Dierick, Business Development Manager, Terumo : “Attendance at this venue is of a high caliber. You meet people who are really responsible for the technical and commercial aspects of medical device and pharmaceutical packaging development. ».
Torsten Fisher, Business Development Manager, RPC Formatec: “This is the first time we have been exhibitors at Pharmapack and we made very good contacts.”
Visitors particularly appreciated the opportunity to gain an even more comprehensive view of the latest developments and innovations thanks to the ever more numerous exhibitors involved in all the stages of the supply chain:
Vincent Cazelles, Packaging Development Manager, Pierre Fabre : « For someone like me, on the user side, it is very worthwhile because one truly finds all the major players in this field, both from France and abroad ».
Marie Deboc, Packaging Purchasing Manager, Biocodex : « More exhibitors open up the possibility of discovering more innovations and seeing suppliers with whom we work but who were not exhibitors in the past ».
Cedric Ducros, Healthcare Purchasing Manager, Reckitt Benckiser : “Pharmapack was recommended to us. A lot of players in the area are present”.
Presentations focused on key themes and technological innovation
Always new, with a wealth of information (45 technical presentations of a high standard), the Pharmapack 2010 conference schedule highlighted in particular the innovations designed to improve compliance, child-proof packaging, patient and health worker safety. In step with industry’s expectations in the sector, sustainable development was also widely discussed at the session chaired by Professor Jean-Claude Chaumeil, Paris Descartes Faculty of Pharmacy, and Jean-Rémi Bitaud, director of the sustainable development management project at AP-HP (biggest hospital group in France). « We have been working on this topic for two years. I have come to realise it is necessary to establish relations very early on, way upstream, with drug suppliers, packaging manufacturers and packers in order to combine quality, safety and respect for the environment», he commented. He also underscored: «For we buyers, decision-makers and hospital managers, it is important to attend a venue like Pharmapack to be able to discuss, with the professionals present, our topics of concern and their areas of research and development to see how, together, we can move forward on these issues ». It is worth noting the paper by Nicole Poisson, hospital-based pharmacist, FU drug purchases evaluation, EGEPS AP Paris, who also shed valuable light on how sustainable development is factored in to the drug purchasing strategy of state hospitals.
In terms of the concrete implementation of sustainable development, speakers described new technological solutions to reduce the quantity of materials used in the packaging of sensitive pharmaceutical products, improve the sustainability of single-use or solid oral dose product packaging.
A topic of global concern, the fight against counterfeit, was also one of the key themes at this meeting, with presentations on new technological solutions to guarantee the security and traceability of drugs. « While technology is indispensible for industry to remain ahead of the game, it is not sufficient to combat the practice of counterfeit » recalled Jean-Marc Bobée, Director of industrial anti-counterfeit strategy at Sanofi-Avantis. Stressing the importance of mobilising all the players in the distribution chain together with state authorities, he discussed the concept proposed by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (efpia) which will make it possible in the future to secure drug dispensing thanks to the use of a serialised Data Matrix code. Experts also recalled that one stage in the implementation of this concept is use of CIP13-Datamatrix on drug packaging, a regulatory obligation with which the pharmaceutical industries will have to comply in the very near term as it will come into force as of the 31/12/2010, the deadline laid down by AFSSAPS.
The Pharmapack programme also reviewed the latest advances in injectables, pulmonary, nasal and inhaled dosage forms. The innovations presented concerned the development of better materials, packaging and delivery systems in terms of protecting formulations, accurate dosing and effective administration.
Addressed for the first time in the Pharmapack programme, the theme of veterinary packaging was greatly appreciated by attendees. As stated by any number of them, this initiative constituted an excellent opportunity to discover the bridges between the development of human drugs and animal products.
Another major novelty at this ninth edition of Pharmapack, the series of BIOMEDevice Europe lectures provided in-depth insight into major aspects involved in the development of combination products like regulations, partnership, financing or intellectual property strategy, pricing, reimbursement, market trends, etc. The most technical aspects were addressed through a complete overview of enabling technologies and promising materials for the manufacture of combination products. These topics, covered by eminent experts, attracted a large number of professionals from the pharmaceutical, medical and biotechnology industry.
Farid Abdelnour, Vice President Regulatory Affairs ACIDIM, Senior consultant Europe, Quintiles : « Combination products constitute a market that will no doubt lie at the heart of the development of health products. It is a very rapidly evolving market, with a growth rate of 10 to 12% compared with last year ».
Joël Cotten, European Product Manager/Marketing, BD Medical- Pharmaceutical : « The rapprochement between Pharmapack and BIOMEDevice Europe is an excellent idea as it makes it possible to bring together professionals from different horizons to work on joint developments. We are very satisfied with this 2010 vintage. »
2010 Pharmapack Awards : sustained efforts in innovation
As shown at the 2010 Pharmapack Awards ceremony, despite a difficult economic context, innovation remains a priority for industries in the sector. The independent Awards jury singled out the most innovative packaging developed for drugs, veterinary products and devices introduced on the French market between the 27th November 2008 and the 15th November 2009.
“Compliance” Pharmapack Award – NovoPen4 by Novo Nordisk.
“Safe use “, hospital product, Pharmapack Award – Ephedrine, pre-filled plastic syringe by Laboratoire Aguettant.
« Medical Device » Pharmapack Award – Conveen Optima by Laboratoires Coloplast.
« Domestic Risk Prevention », veterinary category, Pharmapack Award – Milteforan by Virbac.
A special distinction was awarded by the jury, in the « New packaging » category, to Phytoconcentrés VitaflorBIO by Milical
The 10th edition of Pharmapack will be held on the 23rd & 24th February 2011. An appointment with a wealth of new discoveries, not to be missed !