2006 Compliance Package of the Year Competition Now Open

FALLS CHURCH, Va.—The Healthcare Compliance Packaging Council has announced the opening of its competition for the 2006 HCPC Compliance Package of the Year Awards. Entries will be accepted Nov. 15-March 15, 2007, and a total of $12,000 in scholarship funds will be contributed to schools of packaging by the HCPC and Canon Communications based on designations by the Award winners.

Each year the HCPC solicits entries from the pharmaceutical industry for consideration in its Compliance Package of the Year competition to determine unit dose packages that are best designed to optimize patient compliance. While there is no fee or other monetary requirements to participate, qualifying packages for the Compliance Package of the Year category must: 1) be in a unit dose format; 2) have at least one compliance enhancing feature; 3) have been commercially available, anywhere in the world, at some point during 2005; and 4) not require drug products to be “re-packaged” by patients.

The 2006 Awards will also include a category for Innovative Design that includes non-commercially available formats. Qualifying entries for the Innovative Design category must still be a unit dose format, have at least one compliance-prompting feature, and not require repackaging by consumers.

A panel of judges will review each qualifying package and, based on numerical scores awarded by the judges, one package will be named HCPC’s 2006 Compliance Package of the Year and will be asked to designate a school of packaging to receive $6,000 in scholarship funds provided by the HCPC and Canon Communications. Based on judge’s scores, the next two highest-rated packages will be awarded first and second runner-up, respectively, and the winners will be asked to designate $2,000 apiece in scholarship funds. The package that receives the highest numerical score in the Innovative Design category will also receive a $2,000 scholarship designation. Judging will be based on the package’s ability to increase pharmaceutical compliance, innovative packaging designs, and unique features which distinguish it from others on the market.

Each winning entry will also be honored at the HCPC’s annual National Symposium on Patient Compliance to be held May 15-16, 2007 in Baltimore, and will receive publicity within the council’s magazine, Unit Dose Alert, and coverage by the trade press. All qualifying entries will also be displayed at the HCPC booth during trade events over the next twelve months. Complete competition guidelines are available at www.unitdose.org or by contacting the HCPC offices at 703-538-4030.