Labels are vital for the proper and safe use of medicines, from identifying them to providing information that patients need to know about how to use them. Pharmaceutical labels are regulated by Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) orders and other legislation to ensure they provide the right information to support quality use of medicines.
High-Quality Digital Printing
The pharma industry is facing many challenges as it moves to new products and expands its packaging. Digital printing can help pharma companies address this complexity by increasing flexibility, speeding up production runs and reducing inventory requirements.
High-quality digital printing techniques allow companies to produce labels on certified substrates that are hard to counterfeit and easy to use. They can also incorporate serialized barcodes and RFID inlays to address serialization and GS1 tracking and tracing compliance requirements.
Digital printing eliminates many steps in the print process, including prepress, which reduces lead time by up to one-third and saves hundreds of dollars per SKU. This is especially helpful for companies that want to shorten their product life cycle and avoid the need for costly reprints due to label obsolescence or waste.
Anti-Counterfeiting Features
The counterfeiting of pharmaceuticals and other high-value products is an enormous safety risk. Moreover, it can lead to economic damage as well. Security features on labels help to prevent tampering and increase the value of the product. They include overt, covert, and forensic features that can be used to verify the identity of a product.
Overt security features are visible to the naked eye, while covert and forensic features may require special equipment or training to detect. They can include watermarks, holograms, and tactile effects. The combination of overt, covert, and forensic security measures makes it hard to replicate a product. It can also help to reassure consumers about the safety of the product, which can decrease counterfeiting.
Robust Disaster Recovery
In the pharmaceutical industry, it's critical to have a robust disaster recovery strategy in place to ensure that label printers are able to deliver flawless labels quickly and efficiently following any disruption. Without a robust plan, businesses may suffer unplanned downtime and lose productivity, costing them money and causing customers to wait longer for their products.
Robust disaster recovery techniques involve sophisticated backup solutions and automated recovery processes. The right combination of these technologies can help pharmaceutical printers stay up and running when a disaster strikes.
The key to robust recovery is a careful assessment of all the elements that impact your company's data, systems, and connectivity. This includes whether you have a central location for your data, how employees and contractors access the information, and where you store backups of your important files.
Line Clearance Procedures
Line clearance procedures ensure that equipment and work areas are free of products, materials and documents from a previous process. They are important for ensuring efficiency, quality and safety in pharmaceutical label printing and other manufacturing processes.
Depending on the product being manufactured, the line clearance procedure may involve three steps: clearing, cleaning and checking. Clearing - This step is the most basic and involves removing any products, materials or documents from the line that are not necessary for the next scheduled process.
Cleansing - This step is more thorough and includes disinfection of surfaces and equipment. It can also include recalibrating scales and checking the temperature and humidity of the work area. Checking and Verification - This step is the final inspection to ensure that all surfaces are clean and free of contaminants. It is usually completed by a supervisor or quality control department.
Errors in the printing of drug product labels or packaging artwork are common in the pharmaceutical industry and can lead to a wide range of problems. Among them, misregistration of medication names, strength, lot/serial numbers and expiry dates can confuse patients and cause injury or even death.
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